The Chemical X Chronicles
by Yet-One-More-Idiot
Summary: A brief interlude in the series, explaining a little more about Sutekh's humble beginnings, and the events that brought about everything that has so far happened.
1. Here we go again: Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the PowerPuff Girls or any of its characters. It all belongs to the Cartoon Network and anyone else who has proof of ownership. I'm just using them for my own purposes.

The PowerPuff Chronicles

1 - Here we go again

Chapter 1

* * *

"Oh come on Mojo Jojo, how many times we gotta kick your ass each week before ya give up and become a good citizen?", asked Blossom, who was exasperated at yet one more poorly organized attempt to take over Townsville by its own resident second-rate genius, the monkey-man with the silly helmet.

"You will never get me to surrender", yelled Mojo in return, from inside the this-time nose-mounted cockpit of his recently reconstructed Robo-Jojo robot. "Nor will you get me to relent, give myself up, or exceed to you and your puny, dim-witted and decidedly dumb mayor! I will become ruler of Townsville one day, and, in ruling it, will be its ruler and will therefore govern it as I see fit, since I will be its one and only ruler, and because there will be no-one ruling it besides me, Mojo Jojo!"

"Man, I am so bloody well fed up of that guy and his rambling. Let's just get him, while he's not looking, please Blossom?" asked Buttercup, who was looking, if anything, even more pissed off than usual at Mojo going of on one.

"But that wouldn't be fair, Butter.......OW! That really hurt", Bubbles started, before being hit from behind by Mojo, who had been throwing the girls off guard before attacking. "On second thoughts, lets just get him now."

As they flew into battle once more, Buttercup screamed out at the top of her lungs "This is the bit I love most", before beginning to pound a missile launcher, concealed in the robot's arm, seriously out of shape, and then bending it round so it pointed up its own nose.

Meanwhile, Bubbles was attacking the metal monstrosity's legs, trying to tip it over, and Blossom repeatedly rammed the chest are, before freezing it with her ice breath and then smashing a giant hole through the sub-zero outer casing.

As they continued attacking the thing, as though it was just another day on the job for them (which it was), Buttercup flew in front of Mojo's face, and started blowing raspberries at him. "How dare you mock me and make fun of me, you insolent and impudent little brat, you miniature minx, you...you...you...now I will make sure to kill you even more!", and then he fired a whole broadside of rockets straight at Buttercup.

Of course, since Buttercup has already bent the missile launcher out of shape, the rockets travelled right up the nose, and into the side of Mojo's bubble-dome. "Oh no, I do believe they have beaten me yet again...", was all he managed to say before the rockets went off, and the little monkey was blown sky, and fell the hundred feet or so to the ground, where after the three girls had checked to make sure the robot was inoperable, began pummelling him into a quivering wreck, yet again.

"Oh, you two, look at the time", said Bubbles, when she felt that Mojo had had his recommended daily allowance of physical injury, "Ms. Etic will be wondering where we got to. We were only supposed to be out of class for half an hour, and its almost home time."

"Well then, we may as well go home and ring the school from there, mightn't we?" said Buttercup, who was covered in blood. From Mojo, naturally.

"Since when were you one for a quiet night in, eh Buttercup?" asked Blossom, suddenly suspicious of her tomboy sister's motives.

"What?! I just want to get home and veg out in front of the TV, or can't a girl get a bit of piece and quiet on her own without being up to something?"

"OK, OK, chill out sis, there's no need to bite my head off."

"Well in future, keep your nose out of my business, alright?"

"Whatever you say, Buttercup. It's just that I'm........"

"You're what? Too nosy for your own good?"

"If that's what you call being concerned about you, then....yes, I am."

"I'm sorry", said Buttercup, looking down at the ground, up at the clouds, anywhere but her sister's face. "I just need some time alone right now, to sort out my head, 'kay?"

"OK", piped in Bubbles, "but don't forget that we're here for you when you need us."

"I won't. Thanks, you guys." And Buttercup hugged her sisters both tightly before flying off home on her own.

* * *

"What am I doing? Why do I always have to say the wrong flipping thing?" Buttercup asked herself, as she flew home ahead of her sisters. "I mean, did I have to make it quite that obvious that I'm having trouble dealing with something? 'I need to sort out my head' my eye. I know exactly what's going on up there, I just don't know why, or how to make it stop."

* * *

"Hmmmmmmm, I wonder what that was about?" Bubbles thought, not quite sure what to make of their tough sister's momentary display of emotion.

"Well", began Blossom, tentatively "as far as I can see, its one of two things".

"And what are they, then?"

"Either Buttercup is in love, and is trying to keep it a secret, or......."

"Hee hee, Buttercup in love. That's about the most difficult thing ever to imagine. What's the other possibility?"

"She could just finally be getting in touch with her girly side."

"Does Buttercup even have a girly side?"

"I'm not entirely sure", responded Blossom, gracefully moving out of the way, just as she was about to be hit by a short-sighted eagle. "Whatever the matter is though, we should try not to make fun of her unnecessarily, OK?"

"Yes, ma'am! OW! OW!" shouted Bubbles in mock pain, as Blossom started swatting at her playfully.

* * *

At the Utonium residence, the Professor was working hard in his laboratory, researching something (does it really matter what?), when he heard what sounded like an explosion in the lounge above him.

"Hi Dad, I'm home!", yelled Buttercup, the moment she burst through the door. When the Professor put down his equipment and went to both greet her and scold her about breaking yet ANOTHER front door, he found her with a dustpan and brush, already sweeping up the debris.

"Well", exclaimed Prof. Utonium, "I'm glad that you're cleaning up your mess Buttercup, but it would be so much easier if you didn't break the door in the first place. There's a very good reason why doors have handles, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but better the door than the roof, eh Dad?"

"I suppose so. And that's another thing Buttercup..."

"Yes, Daddy?"

"I still haven't gotten used to you three girls calling me Dad. Something just doesn't....sound right about it. Oh, hello Blossom, Bubbles."

"Hi Daddy. What do you mean, it doesn't sound right to call you 'Daddy'?"

"Oh, I'm sure its nothing, Bubbles. I've just gotten used to everyone I've met in the last 20 years calling me Professor all the time, I suppose it'll just take some time getting used to." Suddenly, the frown lines creasing his face seemed to melt into a big grin. "How do you feel about calling out for dinner tonight, girls?"

"Yay!!" they all shouted, and then the big food debate started up, as they each had different ideas on what constituted a balanced meal.

"I want a vegetarian kebab!", shouted Bubbles.

"I want Sloppy Joes!", yelled Buttercup. "Eww," thought Bubbles, "they're gross".

"I want a Chinese take-away!", screamed Blossom.

"Girls, girls, quiet please.......QUIET! I'll leave you to decide. You have fifteen minutes, or I order an extra large pizza..."

"Hooray!"

"...topped with triple anchovies..."

"Ooooooooooh"

"...and NOTHING else."

"Ewwwwwwwwww"

"Precisely. Now hurry up. I'm not kidding."

As soon as the Professor left the lounge to go back to work in the laboratory, Buttercup went on the meat offensive again.

"Listen, B-U-B-B-L-E-S, I am not having rabbit food ever again, understand?"

"Buttercup, what do you mean? You never eat anything remotely resembling a vegetable. At the rate you're going, you'll have a heart attack before you turn thirteen!" yelled Bubbles, incensed.

"Wha? Are you trying to say I'm UNFIT?"

"Yeah, you wanna make something of it?"

"You talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?"

"Anytime, any place, any way, sister."

"Well, come on then. Let's go!"

However, just as an all out brawl was about to erupt, Blossom finally decided to step once more into the breach.

"Hey, hey, we're all sister's here..."

"Yeah, but not by choice!" shouted Buttercup and Bubbles, at exactly the same moment.

"...and I'm sure we can come to some sort of compromise."

That calmed Bubbles down slightly. "OK, like what?" However, Buttercup was less enthusiastic. "Compromise. Oooooh, how I hate that word."

"Well, how's about we order from Taco Bell? That way, you can have your vegetarian meal Bubbles, while Buttercup...BUTTERCUP!?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm listening, whassup?"

"I was about to say that you can have a healthy, balanced meal for once, and I can finally get a moments peace in this house."

"Hmmmm....", Buttercup thought. She wasn't actually looking for a fight with her sisters tonight, and Blossom had made a good point. So, what were her options? Argue? No, she'd get in trouble with Dad. Storm off to their room? She'd been thinking too long already for that to look convincing, and anyway, it'd look petty. Oh well, she'd just have to give in, this time.

"OK, I suppose tacos are better than nothing", she said reluctantly.

"Good, I'm glad that that's settled. And Buttercup, could you not call me Red anymore? You know I don't like it. "

"Sure thing, Bloss!"

"Ummmmm, I 'spose its better than Red. Come on, let's go order those tacos."

* * *

"Hello, Townsville Taco Bell, how we can help you today?" said the guy on the other end of the line.

"We'd like a dozen large tacos please, sir, to be delivered to the Utonium household", said Blossom, in her politest voice possible.

"OK", came the reply, "your order will arrive within 20 minutes. Anything else?"

"Ummm, no, I believe.... that that's....Buttercup, what do think you're doing?!"

"Bubbles is a vegetarian, remember Bloss?"

"Oh, right. Sorry Bubbles. Yes sir, we'd like three of those tacos to be vegetarian ones, thank you."

"Right, we have your address, Ms. Utonium, the food will arrive shortly." And with that, Luigi put down the phone.

"Hey, Mario, 9 ordinary, 3 veggie, for the Utonium house!"

"Already on it, Luigi. I sometimes think those girls are what keep us in business!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean", shouted back Luigi, over the sound of the stereo blasting out '80s rock music.

* * *

Also listening to the conversation over that radio, was a mysterious creature crouching just outside the window, holding a vial of vile liquid.

(A/N. A vile vial. Try saying that ten times fast!)

As Mario staggered over to a barrel of something obviously alcoholic to get himself a drink, the creature rapidly uncorked the vial, and poured it contents over a large batch of dough used to make the tacos. Then, just as quickly, he vanished into the darkness of the alleyway, laughing maniacally under his breath. (Is it possible to laugh silently like a maniac?) The only clue that he had been there at all was the now empty vial on the sidewalk, with a label reading "Warning - HAZCHEM".

* * *

"Aaaaaah, that was a delicious meal, girls. I'm glad you finally decided on something to eat. I often wonder if you prefer fighting crime and villains, or each other."

"But professor", whined Blossom, "We don't like arguing with each other..."

"We're just so good at it, it'd be a shame to let the talent go to waste!", laughed Buttercup, as she stole made a grab for Bubbles' can of No-name brand Coke (A/N. Yep, the name of the brand is "No-name". Get over it).

"Professor, did you see that? She just stole my coke. I don't like you Buttercup, you're mean."

"Aaaaa, quit being a baby Bubbles. Anyway, you can't mean to say you actually like this stuff?"

"Buttercup, give Bubbles back her coke this instant." Interjected Blossom.

"OK, OK, I was just thirsty is alllllllllllllllllllup", complained Buttercup, giving a tremendous burp right at the end of her sentence.

"Buttercup, remember your manners, young lady" scolded the Professor. "And you shouldn't have drunk your own coke so quickly".

"Well, I drank it quick 'cos I was thirsty, and that was because Bubbles were getting up my nose", stated Buttercup, triumphantly.

"I was not annoying you!", screeched Bubbles.

Buttercup sighed. Bubbles could be so brain-dead sometimes. "I said Bubbles were, I was referring to gulping down my drink too fast making me burp, you dimwit." Honestly, she really could be so ditzy at times.

"I am not a dimwit!" shouted Bubbles, flying off up to the girls'd bedroom.

"Not again" moaned the Professor, as he got up. "You girls can deal with this yourself, I'm going back to work downstairs. And try not to stay up too late, please? You've got school tomorrow, 'kay?".

"Yeah, and it's our birthday, too!" said Buttercup, excited at the thought of all those presents and a huge twelfth birthday party the following afternoon.

"Oh yes, we can't forget that, sweetie", the Professor said, with an odd look on his face for a split second, and then the door shut behind him, as he went back to work on something or other.

Buttercup looked over at Blossom, who had a very stern face on at that moment. "Buttercup Utonium, you know what you have to do, right?"

"Yes Blossom, I hear you", said Buttercup, all enthusiasm draining from her face. Slowly she floated up towards their room, wondering what sort of reaction she'd receive from her baby sister. _Though, technically, she's not my baby sister. We're all the same age as each other. So why does Blossom always act like she's my mother? _And then, another voice in her head said, _because she cares about you and Bubbles, dummy! So stop being so mean to both of them, all the time. Do you want them to hate you?_

"I suppose not", whispered Buttercup to herself, as she knocked on Bubbles' door.

* * *

Bubbles heard her sister knocking, but chose to ignore it. When, a couple of minutes later, she realized Buttercup was still at the door, she shouted "Haven't you got the message yet, Buttercup? Go AWAY! I HATE YOU".

At that, Buttercup just froze, and then felt the first tears rolling down her cheek. "I'm sorry Bubbles, I wasn't trying to hurt you, I've just......got a lot on my mind right now, and I just took it out on the nearest person."

And that just happened to be me, did it? Why do always pick on me, and not Blossom?", cried Bubbles, finally getting her crying under control.

"I dunno, I 'spose it just natural to pick on the one who acts like a baby the most. It's not like a hate you, I'm just.......a little screwed up right now", said Buttercup, starting to develop a slight blush on her cheeks from the crying.

"Yeah, no more than usual", laughed Bubbles, finally opening her door, and motioning Buttercup to take a seat on the bed. "So what is the problem anyways, BC?"

"Oh, nothing important, just something I have to work through on my own. Anyway, we're cool now, right", said Buttercup, sounding hopeful.

"I guess so", said Bubbles, giving her sister a hug. "You know I can never stay mad for long. It's my big weakness." Suddenly, a thought sprang to mind, which Bubbles just couldn't seem to get rid of. "Did Blossom make you come up here to apologize to me, BC?"

"Nope, I just felt that it was the right thing to do. I promise I was not trying to impress anyone." _Yeah, right. Keep saying it long enough, you might actually start believing it, too. _I think I might go to bed now. Night, Bubbles, Sweet dreams, Bloss", she aimed at Blossom, who'd just come to see how the pair we're getting on.

"Night-night, you two", Blossom said, marvelling at the change in her usually tough sister. _Hugging Bubbles, voluntarily? And since when did Buttercup give in so easily in a fight with Bubbles or me? No, there's something's not right here. I wonder what it could be..._

* * *

Meanwhile, in the basement, the Professor was busy watching a video, thinking to himself aloud.

"I suppose I should tell them. They have a right to know, after all. I just don't know how they'll take the new when they find out about it, though. I wish I did. But I really should tell them. Yes, soon, right after the birthday party. I have to. They deserve to know. They deserve to know. They deserve to know. They deserve..."

* * *

To be continued... (Donâ€™t you just HATE that phrase?) 


	2. Here we go again: Part 2

For Disclaimer, see part 1. 

The PowerPuff Chronicles

1 - Here we go again

Chapter 2

* * *

* * *

Later that night, everything was quiet in the Utonium house. Or rather, it was relatively quiet. Buttercup was mumbling in her sleep, as usual, fighting baddies in her dreams, but tonight, she didn't seem to be doing so well...

"No, no, please don't, I'll do anything, just pleeeeeease.............aaaaaarrhhh.......ooooof............ooooooooooooooo ...............please, somebody, help me..........." 

Blossom had been listening to this from her own bed, right next to Buttercup's, for the last quarter of an hour or so. But when she heard a scream come from her tough sister, followed by total silence, she became worried. 

"Bubbles, Bubbles, can you hear me? Wake up. I think something's happened to Buttercup. Hurry!" Blossom hissed as she shook Bubbles' so hard that she almost fell out of her bed. 

A moment later, Bubbles appeared behind her door, still in her night-dress, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Unnnnnnngggh..........Blossom, what're yellin' about at.........5 A.M.?!?"

"I just heard a Buttercup's screaming and I think something might have happened to her." (BTW, they don't have night-vision)

"A scream?" asked Bubbles, incredulously. "Buttercup never screams, Bloss. You must be imagining things. Anyways, I can't hear anything." 

"Exactly", said Blossom, triumphantly, "and Buttercup normally talks and fights in her sleep. That's why I think we should investigate."

"OK, OK, I'm coming", said Bubble, irritably, since it was still very early in the morning. 

* * *

"Buttercup, you OK?", said Blossom quietly, as she shook her sister into wakefulness. "Were you having a nightmare?" 

"Oooooooooooh, yeah I'm OK now, thanks sis", groaned Buttercup. She tried to sit up in bed, but felt strangely dizzy, so she just lay back down again. 

As Bubbles motioned to Buttercup's state of dress, she said "It's alright BC, but what happened to you? You're covered in sweat, and you look like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards." 

"Yeah, I do look like I've been through the wars, don't I? You're absolutely right, I was having a nightmare. The same one I've been having for the last few nights now." 

However, as she was about to say something more, the Professor walked in. "What's going on in here. Is everybody all alright? And was that YOU I heard screaming, Buttercup?"

"Yes, it was, but hopefully you won't get too used to hearing it, Dad. I've been having a recurring nightmare, about the RowdyRuff boys coming back." 

At that, a big round of "Oh" came from everyone else in the room. 

"Hmmmmmmm. Anyway, in my dream, they're chasing me down Main Street, and I never get away from them. Just as I think I'm about to escape safe and sound, they catch up and begin pounding me into the road, over and over and over again. I try everything, even begging them for mercy, but they just keep on going. Then, after a while, I feel something inside me snap, and everything goes black." 

"That's terrible", says Bubbles, with her eyes wide like dinner plates. "But how come we don't fly in and save BC?"

"Yeah. I mean, the only reason I can think of that the three of us wouldn't be together is if there was more than one emergency at the same time Right, Buttercup?" 

Shaking her head sadly, Buttercup delivered the final blow. "In my nightmare, they'd already got both of you." And then, looking down at her carpet, she added, "and you, Dad", before finally letting the first tear fall from her cheek. 

"My God", exclaimed the Professor, aghast, who had been listening intently the whole time. Then, suddenly becoming slightly more cheerful, he added, "well Buttercup, you've no need to worry about that anymore. The RowdyRuff Boys are dead, and I don't think Mojo Jojo will try recreating them in a hurry."

"Yeah, we'd just kiss 'em and they'd explode all over again, and then we'd pound Mojo himself in to the grass", added Buttercup, with the beginnings of a smile forming on her face. 

"And apart from that, we'll never leave you, BC, will we Bubbles?", said Blossom, turning to face her baby sister. "Nuh-uh, never. We're gonna stick together 'til the end, Buttercup. You can count on it." 

"Thanks, you guys, I feel so much better, telling you all this stuff. I wish I'd told you all when it first started, a few days ago. I feel like such a wally right now." 

"Not at all, sis. But, uh, is that why you've been acting.......kinda...........y'know........?"Blossom said, suddenly taking great interest in something on the ceiling. 

"No, I don't know, Bloss, I'm not a mind reader." Buttercup had an odd smile on her face now, as though she knew exactly what her sister was trying to ask, but forcing her to say it loud anyway, just for the fun of it. 

"Well then", sighed Blossom, realizing that her sister was getting a real kick out of seeing her squirm like this, "is the nightmare why you've been acting.....kinda funky the last few days?" 

"Funky???" Bubbles and the professor mouthed to each other. No-one uses that word anymore, their look said to the other one. 

"Nice choice of words", Buttercup replied, in a tone that showed she agreed with the others. "But, yeah, I have been acting "out of sorts" lately, 'cos of the nightmares. But I promise, right now, that as of this moment, you've got the old Buttercup back again!" 

"Yay!!" squealed Bubbles, happy that her sister was back to normal. "Three cheers for Buttercup! Hip hip..."

Silence. 

After a long beat, Blossom decided someone should break the silence, and it might as well be her. "How about we have breakfast? None of us is gonna usefully get any more sleep at this time of the morning." 

"What a good idea Blossom, honey. And I have something important to tell all three of you as well, before you all go of to school this morning. So, let's get started on that breakfast." And with that, they all went their separate ways to get dressed before breakfast. 

* * *

Meanwhile, down at Townsville Police Station, Mojo Jojo was being given yet another caution to add to his police record. 

"So, on behalf of the Townsville police service, I, it's Chief Superintendent, issue this formal written warning to you, Mojo Jojo...", said the officer in charge to Mojo Jojo. 

"O, please, let us dispense with the formalities, John", butted in Mojo Jojo, quite obviously bored out of his tiny mind. "Just give me the warning so that I can go back to my secret lair and begin planning yet another way in which to destroy the PowerPuff Girls." 

"Which you will never do. Here is your official warning Mojo Jojo. Now get out. And I really DON'T want to see you back in here, ever again." 

"Come on Chief, you know he'll be back in here before sundown tonight. He can't go one day without being caught by the PowerPuff Girls." 

"Yes, but that is exactly the thing that prevents me from serving much longer jail sentences. For you see, those accursed girls always catch me before I actually do anything wrong, and so, since I haven't actually done anything wrong, there is nothing that can be arrested for, since I have not done anything that is actually wrong. Hence, I am released so quickly because I have not actually committed a crime, ergo the cycle begins again." 

"Shut up and go home already, Mojo" shouted out an extremely bored PC from somewhere nearby. 

And so, as Mojo Jojo was escorted from the building (again), he began to rant "My name is not Mojo, for it is Mojo Jojo, and such cannot be Mojo, for if my name was simply Mojo, than my name could not be, and would never be, Mojo Jojo, and, as such,........."

* * *

"Right girls, before you start devouring your breakfasts like you three normally do, I have something important to tell you all."

"What is it, Dad?" came from all three girls at the same moment, as they sat next to each other on the sofa in front of the TV, and the Professor took a seat in the comfy armchair next to them. 

"Well now, I was going to wait until after your birthday party, but, I....lost my nerve. So, here goes. We've always considered ourselves to be a family, right? Even though, genetically speaking, I'm not your father." 

"Yeah, but you've still looked after us for the last seven years Dad. You've kept a roof over our heads, fed us, watered us...." 

"Blossom! You're making it sound like we're flippin' houseplants!" 

"Oh, sorry. But I think you know what I meant to say Bubbles. The Professor made us, and has looked after us like a father, even though, technically, he isn't our father. He just....well, adopted us, right dad?" 

"Exactly Blossom. Although no-one's ever made me sign any adoption papers." For a moment, the Professor thought about that, but it really didn't seem to matter. "Anyway, that's the point that I wanted to talk to you all about now." 

"What, the fact that you adopted us? But dad, we already know that. We had to sign the papers too."

"No Buttercup, not the adoption", the Professor laughed at her remark, and her very business-like attitude. "No, I mean, the story of your creation." 

"But da-a-ad", whined Buttercup, "we know that one too. You we're trying to make the perfect little girl out of sugar, spice, and everything nice...."

"...but your pet monkey Jojo bumped into you, making you spill some Chemical X into the formula...", continued Blossom. 

"...and we were created as a result of it. The perfect sisters" Finished Buttercup, sighing audibly, with her tongue firmly in cheek over the use of the word "perfect". "Is that all, 'cos I don't know about anyone else, but I'd like to watch some Puppet Pals before we have to go to school." As she said this last, she reached out for the remote, but the Professor pulled it out of reach. 

"No, that is not all Buttercup, I haven't finished. And don't be so rude. Now, you may think that's what happened, because that's all that I told you. However, I wasn't being entirely truthful when I told you how you were created." 

"What do you mean, dad?" 

"Well Blossom, it's like this. Later that night, after I put you to bed, I tried to repeat the experiment that created you." 

"Why? Aren't we PERFECT enough for you? Or did you just want to make more super-heroes?" Buttercup spat out, with Bubbles nodding away in the background. 

"No Buttercup, that was not the reason." Retorted the Professor, barely keeping his voice calm. "You know I'm a scientist. I have to examine all phenomena whenever possible. As I was saying, I tried to repeat the experiment..." 

"But it didn't work, right dad? You said you "tried to repeat the experiment. Plus, we'd have brothers or sisters if it had worked, wouldn't we?" 

"Quite right Bubbles, how very observant of you. All that happened the second time around was a large explosion, which left a bowl full of very tasty candy. I thought that perhaps I hadn't reproduced the original circumstances exactly enough, so I tried again, and again. But it never worked. Just that first time." 

"Huh?!?" "But how?" "Why?" came from the girls. 

"Well, I was just as perplexed as you are now. So I decided to check my CCTV recording of the experiment. I have the lab under constant surveillance, to protect against break-ins, and to keep a record of all my experiments. Everything SEEMED to be perfectly reproduced in my later experiments. But when I checked the last camera's footage of your creation, I found this", and at this point, he held up the videotape he held in his hand. 

* * *

Meanwhile, Mojo Jojo had returned to his lair, and was busy collecting up all the items he'd need for his latest attempt to destroy the PowerPuff girls. Which was no mean feat, considering the state that his secret lair was in. 

"I have the snips, and the snails, now, where are those blasted puppy dog's tails? Hmmmm? Oh well, guess I'll just have to go get some more puppies..........aaaaah, here they are!" Mojo Jojo triumphantly held up the box labelled "Puppy dog's tails" for all his lair to see, as he lived alone. "Looks like I won't need some more after all. There's more than enough in here already. Now, where's that cauldron got to?" 

Now, you wouldn't think it's very easy to lose a cauldron, would you? I mean, they're rather on the big side, should be quite difficult to lose something that large in your home. Wrong. It took Mojo Jojo a further half-hour to find his cauldron. It was, quite literally, under his nose the whole time. 

Finally, he was ready to assemble the components. "At last, my plan is about to come to pass, it will come to fruition, and proceed, and shall not this time be stop by those damnable little girls. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!". And with that, Mojo threw in a few snips, some snails, and was about to start on the three puppy dog's tails. Yes, you guessed it; he was re-creating the RowdyRuff Boys. Except we all know that it won't work, but nobody told Mojo Jojo that. 

"I know precisely what I am doing, thank you very much narrator! Now just get on with telling the story and stop interrupting me", shouted Mojo Jojo. "This is a very delicate procedure." 

Yes Mojo, I know that already. And I also know that you know exactly what you're doing. It just won't work. The RowdyRuff Boys are naturally evil, and the PowerPuff Girls are naturally good, so one kiss from the girls, and the boys'll explode again. 

"Hmmmmmmm, you do have a point there", said Mojo Jojo, pausing in the middle of counting out three puppy dog's tails. "But, if that is the only problem, then I could simply create super-brats that are not naturally evil, which would be naturally good. And, since they would be naturally good, they would not, therefore, be naturally evil, and so could not be destroyed so easily by the PowerPuff Girls." He spat the last two words out, with extraordinary venom in his voice. 

"Moreover, if I create good GIRLS, and then brainwash them into being bad, they will do as I wish, and, in the process, be mistaken for the original PowerPuff Girls." He was getting a little two excited about this plan now. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so quick to point out the other plan's flaw. Oh well. It's too early in the day for me. I'm going back to sleep. 

"Yes, yes, this is a far better plan then I was going to use. Yes, I will create good PowerPuff Girls, and will then brainwash them into doing my bidding. Then I will make them destroy the other PowerPuff girls, and take over control of Townsville in my name, on my behalf, in the name of Mojo Jojo! Yes, it is perfect, it is flawless, and the girls will not be able to stop me with this plan, for I will be unstoppable. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!" 

Oh dear, this doesn't sound too good. On the other hand...

"Now, where I put that sugar..." 

* * *

"B-b-b-b-but HOW?", stuttered Buttercup, stunned, for the nth time. "I mean, I see how, but HOW?" 

"Buttercup, sweetie, I know it's come as a bit of a shock to all of you, but I honestly don't know any more about the situation than I've already told you. But as you can see on the videotape", the Professor said, pausing the tape at the relevant frame, "the mixture exploded, showering the lab with the ingredients from the mixing bowl. Then", he said, frame advancing to the exact moment that the girls appeared, "a vortex opened behind the cloud from the explosion, and you girls fell out of that vortex. Where it came from, I don't know. But, as far as I can tell, you three were created wherever that vortex originated, and were then sent here." 

"So you're saying that whoever created didn't want us, and so threw us through this....vortex thingy?", sniffled Bubbles, who appeared to be on the verge of crying out loud. 

"Maybe, maybe not Bubbles", said Blossom. "They could just as easily have sent us here for our own protection. Couldn't they, Professor?" 

"Yes, that could be the case. Bubbles, your sister has made a very good point. We have no idea what circumstances you were made under...or even born into." 

"Whoa, scary thought", said Buttercup. "If we were sent here for our own protection, what must where we came from be like. I mean, we have superpowers. Things would have to be pretty tough to scare us, wouldn't they?" 

"But you girls may not have had your superpowers where you cam from", interjected the Professor, thinking hard. "They might be as a result of different conditions here on Earth, as opposed to where you came from. Or, they may be natural. We have no way to tell about that either." 

"You mean we may be aliens?", asked Bubbles, visibly upset by this latest remark. "But I've lived here all my life! I can't be an alien!" 

"Wait a minute. Professor, I think I have something!" 

"What is it, Blossom?" 

"Well, it could just be me being silly, but doesn't that look like the same sort of vortex created by your time-machine, Professor?" 

"Why yes, it does Blossom. Well, that explains part of it anyway." 

"But, umm, how can that be possible, Professor? You didn't invented your time-machine until about 3 years after this." 

"That doesn't matter Buttercup. All that matters is that the time machine existed in the time period from which you were sent. Which means you came from the future. As you haven't gone back in time to this period yet, we can assume that it is also in our future, too." 

"How far in the future though? We might not be created, or born, for thousands of years. We may be super-evolved humans!" 

"No Bubbles, I don't believe that to be the case. Remember, Mojo Jojo created the RowdyRuff Boys in his lab. They're very similar to you three genetically, which presupposes that you were also created in a similar manner. 

"Excuse me everybody, I think I'm going to be...." But Blossom never finished he sentence, as she was already kneeling at the toilet bowl, puking her brains out (though not literally). 

"What's wrong with her?" 

"Don't worry about it too much buttercup, I'm sure she'll be alright. She's probably just having a hard time dealing with all this. Just like you and me." 

"Whatever. One thing: if we haven't been created yet, then do we exist? And, if we don't exist, then who on Earth is holding this cereal bowl?" 

* * *

Over at Mojo Jojo's secret lair (that's not so secret), the mad-monkey himself was almost done with his latest creation. All that remained was to add some of the special chemical that could create PowerPuff life, Chemical X. 

"Drat, I seem to be out of Chemical X. And it's so hard to get hold of, too. Oh well, I'll just have to improvise. I've done it before, and it seemed to work OK. Well, here goes nothing with the toxic waste." 

Yes, he used toxic waste as a cheap substitute for Chemical X. But wait; the Professor's experiments used Chemical X, and didn't create PowerPuff Girls. But Mojo Jojo used toxic waste as a substitute, and successfully created the RowdyRuff Boys. So that means the secret ingredient is...toxic waste?!? Ewwwwwwwww!!!

As the toxic waste took effect, the mixture started to bubble, then the cauldron began to shake, and, just as Mojo Jojo tried to take a peek and see what was happening, the whole pot lifted off the table, and then... 

BOO-OO-OO-OO-OO-OOM!!!!!!

The mixture went everywhere, coating Mojo Jojo, and his lab, in navy green toxic waste (A/N. Well, you can have navy blue, so why not navy green?). 

In the aftermath of the explosion, as Mojo Jojo staggered uncertainly to his feet, he saw, where the cauldron had been, were three girls. 

Three girls that looked to be about 5 years old each, with huge head and bulbous eyes. Three girls that had no idea where they were. Three girls that were, more importantly, floating a foot above the ground. 

The front girl had a red dress with a black stripe across it, and long, flowing auburn hair reaching all the way down her back. The second girl had a blue dress just like her sisters in style, and blond hair done in twin ponytails. The third, and final girl, had a green dress like the others, and short, straight, jet-black hair, and a big scowl plastered to her face like it lived there. 

"I'm Blossom!", shouted the first girl. 

"I'm Bubbles!", shouted the second girl. 

"And I'm Buttercup!", shouted the third girl, without getting rid of her scowl. 

"And together", they continued, "we're the PowerPuff Girls!" 

"Good. Very good indeed". Mojo Jojo rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Now girls, I have something to show you before I put you to work. Look into the crystal (the one which he'd pulled out of his jacket at that moment). Look deeeep into the crystal. You are starting to feel sleepy, soooo sleeeeeepy......." 

* * *

It was the end of the school day, and Bubbles and Buttercup were on their way home from school. 

"I hope Blossom is feeling better than she was this morning."

"Don't sweat it Bubbles." Buttercup adjusted her school bag as they flew only a few feet above the pavement. "The Professor's looking after her. She's probably already right as rain, and wondering what's taking us so long. So get a move on, you don't know when the hot-line might ring." 

"Good point, sis...... hey what's that?"

"What's wha..........whoa, is that what I think it is?". Buttercups jaw almost joined her book-bag on the pavement, as the two of them looked up to see three coloured streaks of light belting across the sky. What else could be done? They gave chase after the new arrivals. 

"Buttercup, you don't think maybe Mojo has re-created the RowdyRuff Boys, do you?" 

At the mention of those boys, Buttercup shuddered. "I hope not, 'specially as Blossom isn't here to help us." But, just as she was about to put on an extra speed burst to catch the strangers up, she was brought up short by something. 

"Hey, what's going on here? Who are you three? What do think you're.......................

"She was shouting at her girl who looked just like her, only seven years younger. 

"........doing. Bubbles, now we might find out who created us. This is us...was us...will be...never mind. Who created you three?"

The younger version of Blossom floated directly in front of the older PowerPuffs, but all three spoke in unison, sounding as one. "We were created by Mojo Jojo, and we have been sent to destroy you." 

"Oh shit", stated Buttercup, just as the punch landed square on her jaw. 

* * *

To be continued... (Again)... 


	3. Here we go again: Part 3

For Disclaimer, see part 1. 

The PowerPuff Chronicles

1 - Here we go again

Chapter 3

* * *

* * *

"OK girls, lets get 'em!" shouted young Blossom to her two, equally young sisters. At once, the three puffs manoeuvred into standard flying formation, ready to attack their own older selves. 

"RUN!!!", yelled Buttercup, not only to Bubbles, but also to herself. She knew just how tough she and her sisters could be. 

"But BC", interjected Bubbles, "we're super-heroes, we don't run. We fly." 

"Run, fly, whatever. Let's just get the fuck out of here!" 

And with an "OK" from Bubbles, the pair did a quick 180 and bolted away from their younger selves just as fast as they could. 

* * *

The Professor was at home, and for once, was taking a break from his research. In fact, he was watching a film on TV, and had decided to take the day off so that he could look after Blossom, who was so ill she'd had to go back to bed. The movie was just getting to a really interesting bit, when, suddenly…

BOOOOOMM!

"Dad, help!" screamed Bubbles, as the two girls came crashing through the front window of the house, barrelling straight into the sofa, and knocking both it and the Professor over in a single move. 

The Professor hoisted himself up to a sitting position on the floor, and started searching around for his glasses (one of the few items in the house made with glass that the girls hadn't smashed. 

"Girls! Honestly, what I have told you about using the door? Nothing is ever important enough to warrant forgetting your manners and acting like a bunch of......what is it? What's happened?" At last, he found his glasses and put them back on, and finally saw the terrified expressions on their faces. 

"It…it…it's us…"

"What? What's you?"

By now, Buttercup had started to get her breath back, though it didn't help her make any more sense. "We just attacked ourselves…I mean, we were just attacked by ourselves. Or do I mean…I don't know what I'm saying, but I think you know what I'm trying to say." 

"I'm sorry to say Buttercup, I don't think I do know what you mean."

Finally, Bubbles decided to speak up, figuring she couldn't sound quite as crazy as her sister at that moment. "What Buttercup is trying to say, Dad, is that we were just attacked by PowerPuff girls…that Mojo Jojo created." 

"So? Remember, I saw you three destroy the RowdyRuff boys, and you were only 5 years old at the time. Why can't you just defeat these new PowerPuffs that Mojo Jojo's created just as easily?"

"Because they're us, Dad", said Buttercup, who finally had her breathing back into a calm, regular pattern. "Don't you get it? Mojo Jojo has just created three PowerPuff girls, which look exactly like us, only 5 years old. They call themselves by OUR names, wear what we used to wear, act how we used to act. And he created them, like, yesterday, or something. They're not just any old PowerPuffs, they're us." 

"Aah, I think I see where you're coming from Buttercup. And because they're you, you can't fight them. Yes, very tricky indeed. I shall have to think about this…"and the Professor wandered off into his laboratory, still muttering to himself. 

Bubbles turned back to her sister. "I don't get it BC, why can't we fight them? They're us, only younger, so we'd be way tougher than them."

Buttercup just rolled her eyes at this question, before realising that she didn't really have an answer to it. "Well…"

"Come on sis, why? There must be a reason. I've never known you to back out of a fight like that before." 

That was certainly true. In all seven years of their lives, Buttercup had never turned away from a fight, even if there was something more effective that she could have been doing. 

"We-ell…for one thing, we may be tougher than them…"

"Of course we are. We're seven years older." 

"OK. We are tougher than them, but there're three of them, and we're one puff down. Blossom's sick, remember. That gives them the advantage." 

"Alright, I'll buy that. And the other thing?"

"Huh?" Bubbles gave her sister a truly withering look. "You said 'for one thing'. So what's the other? There has to be at least two things." 

"Oh, right. Well the other points a bit technical. You'd be better off talking to Bloss." 

"Blossom's too sick. Just give me the gist of it." 

"Oh, OK", sighed Buttercup, knowing that all she knew about temporal mechanics she'd learnt from watching Star Trek. "Right, let's see if I know enough about this to make it make sense. Mojo Jojo created three PowerPuffs to destroy us, and they might just do it, too. With me so far, Bubbles?" 

"Yes, just get on with it, the mayor might call."

"Alright, keep your hair on. Well, it seems quite obvious that they're us, before we were sent back in time to the Professor. I don't know why they're evil, but we're not, so Mojerk probably hypnotised them. Bubbles, what're you making a funny face at now?"

"Well", Bubbles started, thoughtfully, "all this time, we thought Mojo Jojo was sort of a...stepbrother. This means he's our dad. I mean our real Dad, or as close to one as we have." 

"Hmmm, yeah. I get what you mean there. Anyway, as I was saying, they're us, but much younger. About 7 years younger. So, anything we do to them, was done to us 7 years ago. Which means we can't just try and destroy them, because, if we kill them..."

"Then we kill ourselves. OK, that makes this a lot harder than other fights." 

"No, as far as I can work out, we wouldn't die if we killed our younger selves."

"Huh?"

"We'd never have existed. If we died at the age of five, then we couldn't go through the next seven years to become us now. So we wouldn't die if we killed them, we'd just...cease to exist. Which would mean that we wouldn't kill them, and so they'd grow up to become us, and then we'd kill them, and…well, I think you get the idea."

"Uh-huh. It's a time loop paradoxy thingy, isn't it?"

"Yeah, which means that we can't kill them. So let's go see if the Prof...Dad's come up with anything we can to knock them out without killing them."

"OK, BC, I'm right behind yooooooooooouuuu........oh dear...."

"Bubbles, what is it? What's happened? Are you.......oh dear, you don't look to well. I'll get you down to lab so Dad can give you a check-up. You OK to fly?"

"I think so.......just give me a sec to.....to....." Bubbles started spinning in mid-air, and then dropped like a stone to the floor, with a sickening loud THUD. The moment the Professor heard this, he came running out of the lab at full speed. 

"What's going on here? Oh my god, Bubbles, you look so sick. Come on dear, I need to do some tests, see what wrong with you."

"Unnnnnnnnnnnnnggggghhhhh......"

The Professor was so intent on doing his job, he didn't hear Buttercup in the background. "Dad, do you think I'll come down with whatever this is? Dad? Someone's still got to fight our young selves, and if I get ill, then who'll do it? Dad? You listening? DAD!!" 

The Professor was still busy with what he was doing, but quickly laid Bubbles down on a sickbed, and then started manipulating various instruments. Finally, he looked up at his tomboy daughter. "Yes, Buttercup, what is it now?"

"Well Dad, as I was trying to say..."

"Yes, keep talking, I just need to need to get everything going as quickly as possible. If I don't find out what's happened to Bubbles and Blossom, it very well could happen to you." He was rushing from one piece of equipment to another, switching them on, turning dials, pressing buttons, taking blood samples, taking Bubbles' pulse, temperature, blood pressure, seemingly all at once. 

"And if I do come down with...whatever this is...who's going to protect Townsville from the constant attacks then?" 

"Well, if the worst comes to worst, I still have my PowerProf suit."

"Alright, we have a backup plan. Unless you come down with this as well." 

"I don't think that's going to happen Buttercup. And before you ask why, I did the same tests this morning on Blossom that I doing to Bubbles now. This seems to be the result of a particularly virulent strain of bacteria..."

"Virulent? What's that mean?"

"It means powerful Buttercup. But I won't be affected, because it seems to be engineered to attack the Chemical X in your bodies, and break it down."

At this last piece of news, Buttercup's jaw dropped. She was aghast. "You mean we're going to be powerless? Just normal girls?"

The Professor realised how much of a shock this was to his daughter (although she'd taken it better than either of her sisters probably would), and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure it won't be permanent, honey. People get ill all the time, and return to full health afterwards. You'll probably simply lose your powers for a few days. Then I'm sure all three of you'll be right as rain. In the meantime, though, we'll have to look seriously at security measures. Both for us and for Townsville as a whole. 

Then suddenly, a scary thought struck in Buttercup's mind. "What about us...our younger selves? If I fall ill as well, they'll realise and attack. Mojo's given them orders to kill us!" 

"Well", began the Professor, stroking his chin thoughtfully, "I do have one idea. But it might be dangerous." 

"Dad, we're out of options. They've got a 3 to 1 advantage, I can't kill them because of a time paradox, and I'm about to fall ill with a serious case of...something. We need to sort them out, before they sort us. Any plan has got to be better than none at this stage." 

"Of course. Let me explain it as briefly and thoroughly as I can..." and the two of them went upstairs to discuss the Professor's plan in detail. 

* * *

About an hour later, the plan was ready. The Professor had moved Blossom down to the laboratory, so he could easily look after both girls while they fought whatever this disease this was, and so he could continue his research into the bacteria itself. He also had his part of the plan to put into action. 

Meanwhile, Buttercup was flying around over Townsville, looking for her younger self and sisters. Suddenly, she saw them. They'd given up chasing buttercup, as she was way too fast for them to follow, and were just calmly and quietly playing hopscotch out the front of the Town Hall. 

Buttercup flew lower so that they could clearly see her. "Hey, you three! You want a piece of me? Well come get it!", and then Buttercup took off, but not too fast, so the others would follow her. She didn't want to fight the younger PowerPuffs, but she needed to get them back to the house, where the Professor should almost be set up by now. 

"Come on girls, let's get after her! She's getting away again!" the young Blossom yelled at her sisters, as they put on an extra burst of speed to chase after Buttercup, who had started blowing raspberries a them from above a skyscraper on the next block. 

However, just when they thought that they had caught her, she would dash off again, to the next tower block, and the next, and the next; always keeping one step (a giant step) ahead of them, but never getting too far away that they might get bored and go off to do something else. This leapfrogging from tower block to tower block lasted until Buttercup reached the city outskirts, and then she started an almost slow-motion dash for home, keeping herself in her younger sister's sights the whole time. 

"Nyah nyah, you three are so slow, you couldn't even catch a cold!" Buttercup yelled back at herself, before realising that she had actually just insulted herself. When she did, she made a face at the thought, and then muttered "Oh well, they're evil", before continuing to hurl abuse at the other three. 

"I know snails that can fly faster than you lot! And that bow in your hair looks really lame....Bloss!" 

At this last, the young Blossom was so stunned that she almost flew straight into a tree, but swerved a split second before she struck. "Did you hear that girls? She's insulting us! How uncouth! We must get her!" 

"Yeah, I agree. She needs to be taught a lesson, and so do her sisters. Our master commands it." Bubbles nodded her head so violently, that for a moment she was blinded by hair whipping across her face, and bumped into young Buttercup. 

"Yeah, I agr...hey Bubbles, watch where your going, 'k?"

"Oops, sorry, I couldn't see. I'll try to be more careful." 

"You'd better. Now as I was saying, I agree, but how come Mojo's our boss? He hasn't got any powers. And this feels like a trap. That Buttercup doesn't seem to be going as fast as she and her sister yesterday. I think she's leading us somewhere." 

"What does it matter where she's leading us, BC?" asked Blossom, who was confident they'd accomplish their mission. "We'll just pound her when we get there. It's a 3 on 1 fight, sis; she hasn't got a hope."

"Yeah, Blossom's right, BC. There's no way we can't lose. By the way, does anyone know where we are?" 

They had just arrived in Pokey Oaks, and saw the older Buttercup disappearing through the back window of a nearby house. The house looked like all the others, except the curtains were drawn, and there was no light coming from inside. They decided to follow her. 

Blossom nodded her head at her sisters. "OK girls, ready? 'Cos we're going in!"

* * *

The moment they entered, Bubbles immediately bumped into something big and hard (A/N. No smutty comments please, people!). She almost screamed, not because it hurt, but because it gave her a fright. Luckily, she remembered they were chasing someone in the dark, and wanted to keep the element of surprise, so she opted for a suitably meek "eep" instead. 

"What was that? Bubbles, try to be more careful, 'k?" Blossom whispered in her ear. "If she can hear us, then we'll lose the element of surprise in attacking her here." 

"Well then", whispered the five-year-old Buttercup, "perhaps we should all ZIP IT! Now shuddup, both of you." 

"Yeah, before I hear you three", whispered another, more mature voice from directly behind them. 

"Sorry Buttercup." 

"Yeah, sorry BC." 

"Yeah, I'll try to be qui...Oh shit", muttered the younger Buttercup, just as the lights came up. All three girls got into battle stance, preparing for a surprise attack, but were more surprised when none was forthcoming. Gradually, they relaxed and looked all around themselves. 

They were in someone's lounge. This house obviously had very lively occupants. There were drawings and crayons scattered about in the kitchen, a well-worn punch-bag in the corner of the lounge, and a very impressive library of scientific and philosophical texts. A lot of the furniture looked it didn't quite go together, as though it was being constantly replaced, and yet, at the same time, everything seemed almost brand new. 

Finally, they came to the machine at the top of the basement steps. The three girls floated over to it. It was, basically, an outboard motor with a giant disc attached to the front of it, painted in alternating black and white pie-slices. The girls examined it closely, wondering what on earth was going on. 

"What the hell is this, then?", asked Buttercup. "It's not a weapon of some kind is it? DO you think we might have fallen into a trap, Blossom?" 

"We-ell", began Blossom, as she poked her nose into the motor on the back of the disc, "I don't think this is a weapon, and if we were in a trap, doncha think someone'd of caught us already? No, we're quite safe." 

"Errr…Blossom…."

"Not now Bubbles, I'm busy." 

"But Blossom, you really should…"

"I said I'm busy! Just be quiet, and get out of my light. I'm trying to work out what this thing does." 

"Blossom…."

"WHAT?!?"

"I believe I can tell you what this machine does, young lady." 

"Oh good…who are you? Where did you come from?"

"My name is Professor Utonium, and this is my house."

"Oh, sorry 'bout that", put in Bubbles. "We we're chasing someone and she…er, she came in here. We were just looking for them." As she said this, she began backing towards the front door, as did her two sisters. 

"Well, seeing as how you're here now..."

"Yeah?" The young Blossom was scared of this man. He had a slightly lopsided grin on his face, as though he...no. He wasn't evil. Mad, maybe, but not evil. 

"How would you three like to see this machine in action?" He pointed to the machine they had been examining. 

"What does it do?" asked Bubbles, moving forward. 

"I'm glad you asked; it's a hypnosis machine." 

"Hypnosis? Pfft." Buttercup was sceptical. "Hypnosis Schmipnosis". 

"You don't believe you can be hypnotised, young lady?" 

The green puff arched her "eyebrow". "Sure, maybe really gullible people can be, but I bet you couldn't put us in a trance."

"If that's what you think, let's put it to the test." And with that, the Professor pressed a button that the girls hadn't seen on the side of the machine, and the black-and-white-swirls patterned disc began spinning, picking up speed as it went. 

The girls just floated there, looking a bit bored. "See, told you it wouldn't work. We're not that easy to catch out after all, are we?" 

The Professor stood to the side, watching the girls intently for any changes in their behaviour. "Give it time, it's just warming up at the moment. We'll soon see who's gullible or not." 

As he said this, the professor noticed all three girls blink at exactly the same time, as they tried, in vain, to refocus on the swirling image in front of them. 

"Yeah Buttercup, let's give it a while", repeated Blossom. "After all, it's not like we're in a hurry to...err..."

"What is it, Blossom?" asked the Professor, who noticed the girls' eyes had a glazed look in them, and their breathing was becoming shallow. 

"I...er...erm..." Blossom was blinking rapidly now, trying to concentrate on the disc in front of her. She was also beginning to sway slightly, from side to side, as were her sisters.

A couple of minutes later, the Professor decided that it had been long enough, and snapped his fingers right in front of the girls. None of them reacted at all. "It's OK Buttercup, you can come out now." 

"Phew, I was starting to wonder if we were gonna be able to pull this plan off", Buttercup replied, as she flew out from the safety of the lab, being careful not to damage the Professor's equipment. "So, what do we do now? Programme them to kill Mojo? Or make them perform weird tricks every time I say 'globule'?"

The Professor simply glared at her off that question. "Neither, Buttercup. We need to deprogram them, and then send them back to the day that I thought I created you three."

"Right. So they're us. It's freaky." 

"What's freaky." 

"My hair. I never realised it looked that...wide."

"That's the least of our worries, Buttercup. Now, keep quiet. I'm going to deprogram them all at once."

With that, the Professor turned to address the three catatonic 5-year-olds, and said, in his most authoritative voice, "Now, listen up. Are you girls naturally evil?" 

"No", the girls all answered as one. 

"Good, good". The Professor gleefully rubbed his hands together. "In that case, I want all of you to return to your normal behavioural patterns. In fact, when you wake up, you will not remember anything before that moment. You will all wake up the moment I say the word...", the Professor trailed off, unable to think of a good trigger word. 

"Globule!"

"Right", the Professor said, shooting Buttercup a very odd look. "You will awake when I next say the word 'Globule'. Next thing, follow me." 

The Professor, and Buttercup, led the three entranced tots down the staircase into the laboratory, where the time machine was already running, and the Professor tapped in the time co-ordinates. "This should do it. If my calculations are correct, they'll arrive here, in the lab, at the exact time, recorded on CCTV cameras." And with that, the Professor thrust all three girls into the time portal, and shouted after them a single word. 

"GLOBULE!"

A moment later, all three snapped back to consciousness, just as they crashed to very solid earth in the lab, seven years earlier. 

Meanwhile, back in the present, Mojo Jojo had been tracking his three girls as they chased the older Buttercup. He was hiding in the bushes just outside the Utonium house, ready to watch his creations tear first Buttercup and then her sisters to pieces. 

Suddenly, however, their life-signs started to become weaker on his scanner. "What on earth is going on, and occurring, and happening at this instance? Why are they disappearing and vanishing, ceasing to be? They cannot be dead, for if that were the case, then their life-signs would just vanish in a moment, would go at once, not gradually fade, and tail off into nothingness. So they cannot be dead, because this has not happened. I must get in there...aah, a window!"

And with that, Mojo climbed through the ground-level skylight window into the basement, and immediately fell into a crate of assorted beakers. 

"Oh well, there goes the element of surprise. I suppose I'd better run!"

"Buttercup! Mojo's here. Shut the time portal down now!"

However, as Buttercup went to shut down the time machine, she hesitated, realising that she didn't actually know how to operate it. Instead, as Mojo leapt into the still open hole in time, Buttercup simply pulled the plug on the machine. Literally. She just reached down and yanked the power cable out of the Professor's portable power generator. 

As the portal began to close, and Mojo Jojo disappeared into the distance, he could be heard yelling "You have not seen the last of me! No one can get rid of Mojo Jojo that easily. I will be back. I will return. And when I do, you and you're sisters will pay for this, Buttercup Utonium! I repeat, YOU WILL PAY! PAY, WITH YOUR LIVES! ALL OF YOU!" And with that, the machine shut down, and the portal closed. 

The Professor wiped his brow, and turned to Buttercup. "Well, it seems like we've got rid of Mojo Jojo permanently, Buttercup. There's no way he could have reached the other end of that time tunnel so soon."

"What!" Buttercup was aghast. "You mean he's stranded in time? He'll die!"

"I don't think so, dear. You see, Mojo Jojo is now outside of the universe as we know it, and, as such, is not subject to all the physical laws that govern it. He'll never grow old, he won't need to eat, and he can't die. He'll just live forever, and rule over all that exists outside of time, which is him." The Professor cracked a slight smile. "He finally has everything he's ever wanted. He's master of his own domain, and, even more than that, he'll never die. He'll be master of his kingdom, until the end of time." 

Buttercup, quite simply, was amazed. "Wow. And what about us three? Will we be alright?"

The Professor motioned his tomboy daughter out of the lab, back to the comfi-ness of the lounge sofa. "Relax, honey. You three will be fine. You're still here, so you're pasts can't have been changed. And, hopefully, you'll never have to face-off against yourselves again."

"Thank goodness for that. It was creepy." 

"Yes", laughed the Professor, "I suppose it would be. Facing an enemy who knows you as well as you do, who you can't kill, but who can kill you easily. That would be creepy indeed." 

"No", Buttercup shook he head wildly, "I just never realised before how much of a dork I looked in that dress!" 

"Oh Buttercup, what am I going to do with you?" 

"Well, we could always have some dinner. I'm star.......oh no."

"What is it dear, you not feeling well?" 

Buttercup couldn't answer that question. She had, rather interestingly, turned the same colour of green as her dress, and then flew for the toilet as fast as she could. 

"Hmmm, how will Townsville cope without it's three young super-heroes, I wonder? I suppose I had better inform the Mayor of this situation at once."

* * *

Outside the house, someone was watching the Professor's actions intently through a pair of binoculars. Someone with a big, evil grin on their face. Someone who was laughing quietly, yet at the same time, maniacally. 

Then, that someone walked away. There were places to go. Things to be. People to do. And all the time in the world to do them, as well. 

* * *

To be continued...

A/N. The next story's not a follow-on from this one. It's actually set before this. And it'll probably start going up in the new year. 


	4. Out of the frying pan

For Disclaimer, see part 1. 

The PowerPuff Chronicles

2 - Out of the frying pan

* * *

* * *

In the beginning, there was death. 

One moment seemingly stretched across all eternity, filled with anger, pain, and hatred. Anger that they had been defeated by such a simple trick; pain that was caused by what their enemies had done to them; hatred of every aspect of the ones who had done this to them. 

The PowerPuff Girls. 

Somehow, someday, some way, the RowdyRuff Boys were going to make them pay for this; for killing them in, and in such a humiliating fashion. 

"Ugghh…I can't believe they kissed us, dude." Boomer groaned, as he tried to wipe off all signs that a girl had just kissed him. 

"Quit your complaining, man", came from somewhere in the darkness beside him, "you know you liked it. Anyways, we got more important things to worry about."

"Like what?" 

"Like working out where in the hell we are." 

"Yeah", came a third voice in the void. 

"Who's that?" asked Boomer, scared of being attacked by something he couldn't see. 

"Chill, bro. It's just Butch. Now shut up and stop being such a scaredy-cat."

"Yeah man, word." 

"So where the hell are we then, Brick?" 

"THAT IS CORRECT", boomed a fourth voice that none of them recognised. It seemed to come from nowhere, as if it were in their heads. But it also seemed to come from all around them. It sounded incredibly deep and masculine, and like nothing that they'd ever heard before. Then again, they hadn't been alive for very long. 

"And who on Earth are you?" yelled Butch, trying to cover the fact that he was scared shitless with a show of bravado. "And what do you mean, 'That is correct'? That's not an answer." 

"But it is", replied the voice. "You said that you are in hell, and that is correct. As for who I am, my true name is unpronounceable by all who have, or shall, ever live, and as such I am known to you and all mortal beings simply as…Satan."

"Oh crap."

"INDEED." 

"Hang on a mo', though," said Boomer, after a few moments of careful thought. "If this is really hell…then where's all the fire and brimstone? Where are all the souls that'll suffer eternal torment and damnation?"

"They are in their own hell, as you are in yours. Much as in life, everyone has their own opinion here. For each of you, this is your own personal hell: spending eternity with your brothers. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Unless…you can leave hell."

"Huh? How can we leave hell? We're dead, aren't we?"

"Not necessarily. You came into this life in an unusual manner, and so you may be able to return. If you so wish."

"Anything's better than being here. Shall we go for it, my brothers?" Brick asked his two brothers, whom he still couldn't see through the darkness. 

"Yeah, why not?" "Not like we're doing anything else for the rest of eternity, is it?"

"So, Satan, how do we leave hell then? Say a couple of prayers and 'Boom' we're alive again?" Brick asked, hopefully. 

"It is not as easy as you may think. In fact, you will find it to be almost impossible."

"Nothing's impossible to us. So, what's the gig then?"

"Being in hell" Satan began, slowly, "is rather like being imprisoned in your own mind. In both cases, the only way to leave is to admit to your sins, and to genuinely beg for forgiveness." 

Total silence.

"Whoa, hang on. We've got to feel…sorry for what we did to those…cream-puffs?" Boomer spat out the insult. 

"Yeah. I mean, they had it coming. They were going down" agreed Brick. 

"We were born and bred to kill 'em. End of story as far as we're concerned, your satanic dude-ness" finished Butch. 

"In that case, you will never leave here", and with that, the three Ruffs sensed that the booming voice had disappeared, and they found that they were no longer in an open, black space. 

They were in a room. The walls were all completely black, and all light just seemed to be absorbed by these walls. The room had no doors or windows, and the walls, although quite solid to the touch, seemed almost entirely to be a construct of their collective subconscious, for nothing so real could be so perfectly smooth. There was light enough that they could see each other clearly, yet the light had no apparent source; it just was. 

Butch carefully examined all six walls of their cubic prison, tapping the walls to see what they were made of, and if there were any weak spots or hidden doorways. Once he'd gone all the way around the room, he made his report. "Hey guys, when you knock on the walls, they don't make any sound. It's like they're not even really there." 

Boomer just looked totally perplexed by this statement. "How can the walls not be there? They're fucking solid enough."

Suddenly, a metaphorical light bulb went on over Brick's head. "Yeah, but they're only as solid as we think they are. Or rather, our guilty subconscious's think they are." 

"Huh?!?" Now it was Butch's turn to look confused. "What the fuck shit you talking about man? I ain't got no guilty subconscious, and neither 'ave you two. Now, either you can stop pissing about and help me to find a way outta this here hellhole, or you can go FUCK YOURSELF! OK?" 

"Whatever," was Brick's bored reply, "I'm gonna try and get some shut-eye. Smell ya later." 

Butch started the avionic equivalent of pacing the room, flying back and forth along one of its four main diagonals. 

"When I get outta here," he started, "those girls are gonna pay for what they did to us, big time. I am gonna personally take them out if it's the last thing I do." 

"What, you mean you're gonna kill them? On your own?" asked Boomer, in awe of his tougher brother. 

"No, I'm gonna take them out to the movies!" replied Butch, in his most sarcastic tone of voice, that he reserved for total morons. 

"Really?" Boomer was, to say the very least surprised. To say the most, he was completely brain-dead. 

"No of course not really, I meant I'm gonna kill them, you fucking wassock!" 

"Ohh, right. Why didn't you just say that in the first place then bro'?"

"Because I was trying to be poetic…auggghhhh!!!" With that, Butch flew straight at his blonde brother, and smacked him upside the head. 

"Ooohhhh…" Boomer shook his head, to try to regain his bearings, not that you could actually tell which way up you were in this room. Every direction looked identical to every other. "Wait a minute, even if we do get outta here and back to earth, won't those girls just kiss us again, and then we'd be straight back down here all over again?" 

"I'm way ahead of you, bro'. Once we've gotten out of here once, we can do it again and again, in exactly the same way. We can just keeping coming back and attacking them, as many times as it takes, until finally, we'll beat 'em. Even if it takes a million years!" 

"Nice plan." 

"No, we won't."

"Wassat, Brick? Why won't we?" Boomer was confused, and a little scared of his brothers getting into an all-out fight. Butch was just plain well pissed off. 

"I said we won't be going back to kill 'em, Butch." Brick repeated. 

"And why in fuck's name shouldn't we?" 

"'Cos they beat us fair and square. You're a warrior, aren't you Butch?"

"Yeah. So what's that got to do with the price of fucking horse-shit?" 

"Well, as warriors, we gotta protect our pride…no, defend our honour. That's it. We gotta defend our honour." 

"So? Surely, the best way to "defend our honour" is to avenge our deaths. God that just sounds fucking weird."

"Yeah, I know it sounds weird. But it would be incredibly dishonourable to break out of Hell, and try to cheat death. And anyway, they did win fairly, which means they'd probably just do it again." 

"Yeah." Boomer spoke up for his brother and leader. "And why was we fighting 'em, anyways?" 

"Why?" Butch was incredulous to the point of apoplexy that this conversation was even happening. "Why? 'Cos they were evil, of course. That's fucking why!"

"But how do you know they were evil?" 

"Duh. Mojo Jojo told us that they were. God, you're a bit slow, ain't ya Boomer?" 

"Two things, Butch: first, I ain't slow, and second, Mojo Jojo was no fucking saint himself. We were created evil. Satan said so himself. Mojo made us to destroy those PowerPuff Girls. Now, by my way of reckoning, if we're evil and we were meant to destroy them, that makes them the good guys…err, girls. And we almost did it! We almost handed over the world to a fucking APE, who'd fill it full of fucking bananas, for God's sake! Well, no more! I wanna make sure he never gets to rule anything, ever. Good deserves to win, and we deserved to die. But I wanna be there to make sure good comes out on top at the end. I want to fight against evil. I want to BE GOOD!!" 

"Yes!" Shouted Brick. "Let's go back up there and take out some baddies!" 

"Eh. Whatever. As long as I get to hit monsters and shit, I don't give a flying fig." 

As he said this, all three boys noticed that the omnipresent light seemed to begin to coalesce into a large round globule of brilliant whiteness right in front of their eyes. It then began to expand rapidly, too rapidly in fact, crushing the boys into the walls of their prison, squeezing all the air in the room into a negligible space, squashing them in to…nothingness. All they could hear was the deafening roar of the blood flowing through their ears, before…

Silence. 

* * *

It was a fine evening on Earth, over America. The sun was just starting to set, giving the whole sky a bright orange hue, and making the clouds look slightly yellow all over. There was no one on the streets at all, as it was already evening. The roads were completely empty, and the shops were closed, for the most part, and there did not even seem to be anyone out for a stroll this fine evening. 

Then there was a loud bang, a brilliant white flash of light, and they appeared. 

The RowdyRuff Boys were back. 

* * *

At first, none of them could see, until they realised that this was because they were lying face down in the gutter. So they carefully got up and looked around. They were in a city, but they didn't know which one. There are hundreds, if not thousands of cities all across the world. Moreover, it was late evening or early morning. They just couldn't be sure. 

Brick looked around, and saw tall buildings stretching into the sky in every direction…before a newspaper blew straight into his face. 

"Way to go, Leader-boy", said Butch, gasping for breath, once he had his laughter back under control. "Nice look you got going there." 

"Yeah, smooth move, Red. Real nice." 

"Awww, shut your…hey, hang on a mo'."

"What is it?" Boomer asked, curious. 

"Look at this newspaper." 

"What about it? It's a newspaper." 

"No, look at the dateline. It says 2005, and it's the Townsville Gazette." 

"Ya mean that we're back in Townsville, and we've been dead for seven years?" Butch was suitably stunned by this startling information. 

"At least. This paper could be years old, guys. And look at the headline, too." It was screaming out, in giant letters, "PowerPuff Girls save the day again!" And in the article, it conveniently mentioned their address. 

"So what're we waiting for? Let's go!" 

Within seconds, they were on their way to Pokey Oaks subdivision, and the PowerPuff Girls. 

* * *

Elsewhere in Townsville, a monster was having a really bad day. He'd woken up to find the other monsters telling him that it was his turn to attack Townsville, and he didn't particularly feel up to it. Sure, none of the monsters had ever actually been killed, but he didn't really want to get himself humiliated in quite this way. He had had a bad, and very short night's sleep, filled with incredibly weird dreams that would keep his psychiatrist happy for the next few months, and was still feeling quite drowsy. That was on top of the fact that the Townsville town planners hadn't thought to cater for the size of the average monster when they had built the road network, so he was very cramped in the inner city. Oh yeah; and to cap it all off, he had toothache. 

He'd just bitten into the corner of the Townsville Town Hall, when suddenly he felt the most painful shock pass through his mouth, as if he'd just bitten an electricity cable (though he wasn't stupid enough to actually try that). The pain was so intense, he let loose the loudest roar you ever did hear, which most of Townsville did hear, including the RowdyRuff Boys. 

"Hey Brick, that sound like a monster to you?" Asked Boomer, who was looking all over the place, trying to spot the PowerPuff Girls as they flew at speed. 

"Yeah, it does, bro'. Let's go check it out."

"Awww…do we have to? I mean, it's only a monster, what's the big deal?" 

"You just don't get the big picture, do ya, Butch? If we want to fight for good, then we have to beat up monsters and general bad guy types. That's a monster in Townsville, so we've got to beat it up."

"But I'm hungry." 

"Shaddup. You wanted a fight, now we've got one. You should be glad." 

"OK, let's get busy then," said Butch, cracking his knuckles loudly. "We've got a monster to hurt." 

"That's more like it, bro'. Let's rock and roll!!"

Of course, it wasn't hard to find a giant crocodile in the middle of Townsville. A minute later, they were hovering in front of it's face. Three pre-teen boys, floating in the air in exactly the same way bricks don't. It had taken them just five seconds to locate the beast, and the rest of the minute was spent getting to it. However, now that they had seen it, they hadn't a clue what they should do. 

"Anyone need a bright idea? Let's just hit it. Hit it hard, and hit it fast. We're super-kids, dudes. It's gotta hurt even that mother-fucking bitch." 

"Good point Butch. Brick, whenever you're ready to…hang on." 

"What now?" Butch looked about ready to punch Boomer's face in, let alone the large lizard's. 

"Wait 'til it roars again…there, didja see it, guys?" He said, pointing at its mouth. 

"Yeah, it was a big ugly tooth in a mouth of big ugly teeth. What's the big?"

"The big is, Butch, that it's swollen and bleeding. I bet he's just stomping around and roaring 'cos he's in pain!" 

"So?" 

"So perhaps if I knock the tooth out, he'll calm down and go away." 

"Go away where?" Brick was intrigued. 

"Does that matter at the mo', bro'?" 

"Not really. Go for it, my brother." 

Boomer lined up his sights, and waited patiently for the overgrown crocodile to roar out again. "Here goes…wish me luck!" He yelled, as he shot into the lizard's mouth, and swung a brilliant uppercut to the rotten tooth. There was an enormous sound of bone shattering, and then a giant tooth, more of a tusk, flew to the ground, where it embedded itself point first. The lizard then roared once more, more quietly, as if to thank Boomer, and then turned around and stomped away from Townsville as carefully as possible, trying not to cause too much more damage. At least the toothache was gone now. 

"Whoa, dude! You were, like, right!" 

"Yeah. Way to go, brother! Now let's get going, before it's too dark to the find the PowerPuff's house." 

So off they flew again, into the growing dusk, to try to find the only people who could help them. 

* * *

Somebody was watching the Utonium house. The plan was working perfectly. The girls were incapacitated, and the Professor didn't have a clue as to how to cure them. He allowed himself a moment of maniacal laughter. But they knew that things had far to go, and they had to leave, for now. They had places to go, things to see, and people to do. Just as they were about to step out of the bushes and vanish into the night though, the RowdyRuff Boys flew into view. 

"So, what're we gonna say when we get there, dude?" asked Boomer, knowing a friendly reception was pretty much out of the question, given their history with the PowerPuffs. 

"We are there, doofus. So let's get this over with" Brick said, as he rang the doorbell. 

* * *

The Professor was worried as hell. The girls were sick, poisoned by something, or, more likely, someone, and he was completely out of his depth on this one. Moreover, Townsville was still just as vulnerable to being attacked now as ever they had been. He'd have to warn the Mayor that the City Police would have to handle things on their own, at least for the short term. Although the Mayor wouldn't take the bad news very well. 

Just as he was picking up the telephone, the doorbell rang. "Who on Earth could that be at this hour of the night?" he said, glancing at his watch, which beeped 21:27. 

Putting the receiver back on its cradle, he hurried to the door, not wanting to appear rude to whoever this caller might be. He hung back for a moment, trying to catch his breath, and then swung the door wide. 

"Hell…what on Earth are you doing here?" He said, as the smile that was on his face slowly dripped off it. As he tried to process this latest event, the room went dark around him, and the ground rushed up to meet his face. 

THUD!!!

"Well, that went well," said Boomer. The other two glared at him. "What? What'd I say?"

"Lets just get him comfortable", said Brick. "Oh, and Boomer,"

"Yeah bro'?"

"Shut the fuck up from now on, OK?" 

* * *

Someone was annoyed. These boys could upset their plans. They would have to take extra precautions to make sure that the plan ran smoothly, they thought, as they once again stepped into the darkness of the night, once again laughing maniacally. 

* * *

To be continued…

So, what did you think? Did you like it? Did you hate it? Or did you just think that I used too many commas? Tell me your views. It's the only way I'll improve. 


	5. A new day dawns: Part 1

I've been writing this chapter since the New Year rolled in, and this is what I've come up with. I won't review myself here - that's your job - but I'm pretty certain that I could have improved this before posting. I just figured it was time I put up the next chapter, as it has been almost three months. That said let's get on to the… 

Disclaimer: See part 1. 

The PowerPuff Chronicles

3 - A new day dawns

Chapter 1

* * *

* * *

"Hey Brick, d'ya think they got any more food round this place? Man, I'm starving!"

"Yeah, yeah, bro. We're all in the same boat. Being dead for 7 years sure does take a lot out of you." 

"Well", said Boomer, from his position, sitting on his head on the couch, "what I don't get is why we've aged. I mean, we weren't actually dead for seven years, were we, guys? I don't know how long seven years is, but I know it's longer than that." 

"Eh". Brick could have cared less; Butch couldn't. He closed his eyes and pretended to go to sleep while his big brother tried to look smart. 

"Maybe we weren't dead for seven years, Boomer, but we have come back seven years after we..."

"Died? Karked it? Bit the big one? Kicked the bucket?" interjected Butch, who was enjoying his moment of looking smarter than Brick. It hadn't happened often, so he made the most of it whilst he could. 

"Yes, thank you for that Butch. I was trying to be a tad more tactful than that. Look up tact. You should try practising it sometime." Brick then turned his attention back to his other brother. "As I was saying, we were last...alive seven years ago, so maybe 'The Powers That Be' decided we should grow older as much as everyone else. Or maybe we took seven years to come back from Hell. I don't know. And I'm sure no-one else does either." 

"Riiiiiight", said Butch, swinging to an upright position on top of the TV. "So let me get this straight, leader-boy. You telling us now that there's a seven-year waiting list to get out of Hell? I've heard of some strange things in my short life, but that has got to take the cake! And the rest of the bakery!" 

"Calm down, Butch. And try to quieten down too. We don't want anyone to find us here." 

"Oh yeah. Look around bro." Butch gestured around them at the mess they had made. "You don't think the Professor's going to notice when he wakes up, comes down here and finds his lounge trashed and everything's been eaten? 'Cos I do." 

"So? We'll tidy up before we leave", said Brick, as he got up to change the channel. He was so lazy, that he couldn't even be bothered to use the remote control. 

"Aww man, do we have to?" 

"Well, unless you want them to realise we've been here, you fucking dick-head." Brick started rapping on his blonde brother's head. "Hello? Earth calling Boomer! They think we're dead, you stupid shit, so we ain't been here. And if we ain't been here, then how could the house get like this?"

A shrug. "I dunno. Mini-tornado?" 

"Aaaaaargh!" Brick slapped Boomer upside the head. "You moron. They'll realise someone broke in, so we gotta hide the evidence. It's not like we have to clean the place proper-like, just hide the trash so's no-one'll see it." 

"So, where do we start?" asked Butch, not looking forward to cleaning the place too much. 

"Eh. We'll start with the kitchen." Brick was just as enthusiastic as his brothers, but knew they had to do this, or they'd get caught. 

"And where are we gonna go stay then?" Boomer said, worriedly, as they had nowhere to stay and their reputation would make things more than a little tense with the Towns-villians. 

"I have just the place..." 

* * *

They had just finished "straightening" the lounge and kitchen out. Brick had blown the dust off all the appliances, and re-arranged the furniture to cover up the occasional spillage of No-name brand cola. Boomer hid the empty bottles of cola under the seat of the couch, and turned the oven back up the right way. And Butch acted like a human vacuum cleaner, sucking all the dirt off the floor, and then spat the inedible crap back out, before dusting it under the carpet. . 

Finally, they floated back to admire their work. "And it took us only the half the time it would done to do it properly. Hey, what's the time?" 

"Don't worry Brick, we've got ages before the Prof. wakes up, it's only…"

He looked at the clock on the wall. Firstly, it was upside down. Secondly, it said the time was 8:30. And thirdly, they could faintly hear an alarm clock going off in one of the upstairs bedrooms. 

"…Holy shit, let's scram!" 

As they made a mad dash out of the house, they surprisingly caused little noise, and absolutely no damage. Unfortunately, they'd forgotten about the upside-down clock…

* * *

The Professor woke late that morning…

As he opened his eyes, it took him a few seconds to work out exactly where he was, as this wasn't where he last remembered being. 

"Huhh? What the…? Where………Oh, I'm in my bedroom. But…wait a microsecond…what happened last night?" He sat up straight on the bed, and looked around hopefully at the four walls of his room, hoping they could give him the answers he sought. 

As he stood up and slowly stumbled into the shower, some images of events the previous night began to return to him. 

__

Buttercup had just fallen ill…what happened next? Oh yes, she flew to the toilet and started throwing up violently. I'd just decided that the Mayor should be informed that the girls wouldn't be able to protect Townsville for the immediate future when suddenly there was…a knock at the door! Yes, that's it; there was a knock at the door. But that still doesn't explain it…hmm…

Meantime, the Professor had turned on his shower and undressed, and now he stepped into the cubicle, in the hope that this would wake him up slightly. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to turn on the hot water, and so was splashed with water that was so incredibly cold that he had to go…

"Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgghhhh! Of course, that's it! I wondered who could be calling at the house at that time of night, went to answer the door and…and saw…no, that can't be right, they're dead. Have been for almost seven years now. No", he said to himself as he washed in the still cold water, not even noticing that he was shivering violently all the while, "no, it can't be, there's no way they could have come back." 

He got out of the shower, and dressed in what he considered to be smart-casual clothes, as he was not intending to work today, but look after the girls instead. However, anyone else looking at him would have thought that he was colour blind, as he had put on a fluorescent pink tank top and totally not-matching blue Jeans. Even the author of this story has better fashion sense than THAT (though admittedly, not by much). 

"Well, what's the first thing I have to do? Ah yes, breakfast. I believe that today I'm going to have…bacon and eggs. And for once, I don't have to worry about Bubbles trying to put me off while I'm eating." _She means well, but what's the point of stopping me from eating meat? She knows I'm too stuck in my ways, and besides, it's not like I'M killing the pig. It's already dead when I buy the bacon from the supermarket. Oh well, better make the most of it, while I can. _"Quite right I am too!" 

So the Professor got out a saucepan, a frying pan, and refilled the kettle to let it boil for a few minutes while he made his morning meal. Then, he went to the cupboards to get the ingredients for his breakfast extravaganza (I don't quite know what should be in a full English breakfast, so please, don't correct me…). 

"Now, where did I put that bacon I bought on Tuesday? Oh yes. Silly me, it's in the fridge not the cupboard! I swear, I'd lose my head if it was firmly attached to my torso by muscles, tendons, ligaments, and couple of bones!" So he shuffled over to the fridge and began rooting around in there instead. 

"Bacon…no, seem to be all out…what else is there? Eggs? No, seem to have run out of them, too. How odd. I could have sworn that I stocked up just a few days ago. Sausages? No, silly, they're in the freezer, not the refrigerator. Tomatoes? Strange, none of them either. In fact, it looks like we're clean out of everything." Indeed, the whole fridge was totally bare, a fact that the Professor's still sleep-addled brain was just beginning to comprehend. So he moved over to freezer. This was not like the usual upright freezers that most people seem to have nowadays, but was instead a large chest freezer, of the kind generally seen in modern supermarkets. However, this one was so large, that the only way the Professor could see inside was to actually jump into it, and examine the contents from within the freezer itself. 

This time, however, he could see quite clearly that the freezer was as empty as the fridge without jumping inside. But why? Who would bother breaking into a house just to steal food? 

"Hmmmmmm…", said the Professor, "I wonder…"

He began pacing between the kitchen and the lounge, in time to the clock on the kitchen wall. "All the food is gone, but nothing else seems to have been touched. It's almost as if the perpetrator didn't care about it, they were just hungry. But who? And more importantly…Oh god! The lab!"

But his sudden and completely irrational fear that his precious laboratory might have been trashed was not only completely unfounded, but also, as it turned out, highly inaccurate. When he opened the lab door and did a quick glancing inspection, everything was exactly as he'd left it the night before, when he had been running tests on Blossom, and then Bubbles, after they had first fallen ill. 

"Phew!" He paused to wipe an imaginary drop of sweat off his forehead. "I'm just glad they didn't do any damage to my equipment. It's fragile, very expensive, and my best chance of finding a cure for the girls. And, wait a minute…why is that clock upside down?" 

"How bizarre." He turned the clock back up the right way, right before another thought struck him. "I should have breakfast. Oh wait, there's no food. Well then, off to shops I go. I suppose I should leave a note for the girls, in case they get up." So he wrote a note to say where he was going, and how long he would be, and then he drove off in the direction of the Townsville Wal-Mart. 

* * *

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." 

"Yeah, I mean, this," said Butch, indicating where they now were, "is your big idea of where we should LIVE? Even Boomer coulda thought of this!"

"Yeah, even I coulda thought…hey, wait a minute!" 

"Hahahahaha! That was too easy!" Butch was having the time of his short life at the expense of his brother. 

"Chill, bro. I mean, is there anything actually wrong with the place?" 

"I 'spose it'll have to be OK. 'Cept that living in the school boiler room'll make it difficult to go out in the daytime." 

"What's up, Butch? You got a hot date lined up or somethin'?" 

"No, just that there'll be kids around most days. Think about it. This is a school." And unfortunately for the leader-ruff, Butch had chosen an annoying time to be right. 

"Yeah well, we'll move soon. But for now, we're here. And we got to fucking stay out of those piss-taking PowerPuffs way, 'k?" 

"And how're we gonna do that, oh great and mighty leader?" asked Butch, in his best sarcastic voice, which he had been specially saving for an occasion like this. "The PowerPuffs come to school here, in case you'd forgotten. I say we move now. Go to Mojo's. We'd be safer there."

"I'm not so sure," began Brick, thoughtfully rubbing his chin, "Mojo's place is too obvious. Those girls find out we're back, it's the first place they'll go. Besides, the monkey-man might not even want us back after we got ourselves killed so easily." 

Suddenly, Boomer had one of his rare thoughts. "Hey, why don't we go see what the bossman's up to, you guys? Catch up on what's been happening round here while we were gone? After all, what's the worst he can do to us? He always relies on his pathetic lasers." 

"Yeah, you'd think a genius like him'd come up with a better weapon, fighting those girls for so long."

"Hey, that's a good idea. Don't have too many Boomer-ang, or your brain might melt." 

"Hah-de-hah, everyone's a comedian, and don't call me Boomer-ang!"

"Whatever you say, Boomer-ang!" And they flew off toward the observatory, to find their "dad". 

* * *

"What the fuck is up with this place? I mean, I know the head monkey-man was mad, but this place looks like a nuke hit it!" 

"Eh, maybe he's in jail. Or sacked the cleaning staff." 

Neither of his brothers even bothered to dignify Brick's comment with a response. "Soooooooo…" began Butch, "maybe we should move in here. It's got weapons, in case we need to defend ourselves…

"We have powers, you dingbat." 

"So? A little light artillery on the side can't hurt." Boomer shrugged. Butch started examining laser cannons. "Hey, look at me. I'm Mojo Jojo, and I have a huge collection of death-rays!" 

"Why did he call 'em that? They never killed a fucking flea, let alone one of those girls." 

"As I was about to say, it's got a good view of the city, so we can see if anyone's about to attack, and with the big M (Not McDonald's) gone, the girls won't come here looking for him, and won't be expecting us to be around neither." 

"Who made you so smart all of a sudden?" Boomer asked, incredulously. "I think it's a good idea, bro…" 

"I didn't say it wasn't a good idea, I was just pointing out…" 

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but it's a good idea 'cos Mojo's not in prison. According to this paper, he was released yesterday afternoon, and we all know not even he can get arrested again that fast." 

"So…?"

"Well, he must be missing. Don't you get it? He's out of the picture, permanently. The girls'll never come here again, and Mojo won't never throw us out of his home. It's perfect. Let's stay here from now on instead." 

"Great. Now, where'd the monkey keep his TV?" 

* * *

The Professor had managed, somehow, to write out an entire shopping list while driving through the town centre. This was made even more surprising by the fact that he was holding the pen with the toes of his left foot to do so. It was, one could say, a great FEAT (bad pun). As he pulled his shoe back on and got out of the car, he remembered he'd forgotten to put bread on the list. 

The cashiers greeted him with a cheery "Good morning, Professor Utonium", as he ambled into the store, as they all knew him well by his daughters. As he picked up the items on his list one by one, everywhere he went in the store people would say to him, "Good morning, Professor Utonium". As he picked up each item on his list in order - he was fastidious to the point of obsession about collecting each item on his list in order, and not buying anything that was not on the list -, he checked it off: 

Just as he was choosing which fish to buy, he heard a chirpy little voice at his elbow say, "Hello, Professor Utonium. Where are the girls today?" 

"Oh, they're not feeling well, so they're in bed at the moment, Robyn." 

(A/N If you don't know who Robyn is, I refer you to the season 4 episode "Superfriends")

"Are your parents around here? Do you know where they are?" 

"Yes, sir." Robyn sounded a bit disheartened by what she had to say next. "They went to my dad's company picnic today, but I had to stay at home and get the shopping instead." 

"Well, I hope they didn't mean both at the same time!" The Professor laughed at his very little joke, and then quickly calmed down again. "I say, why don't you some back with me? You can sit with the girls and chat to them. It may encourage them to get better quicker. " 

A big smile lit up Robyn's face. "May I? Thank you Professor! I'm so glad!" Then, a large thought struck her, as she tried to remember something that might be important. "Excuse me…"

"Of course! I knew I forgot to write something down. Onions…yoghurt…sausages. Yes Robyn? What is it?" 

"Did someone go to visit the girls last night, Professor?" 

The Professor was, understandably, confused at this slightly cryptic question. "When?" he asked, knitting his brows together in an expression of deep thinking. 

"Ummm…" Robyn couldn't quite seem to remember. "I don't know, but I rang your house at about ten last night, to ask them if they wanted to go out this evening, and a boy answered the 'phone." 

"A boy?" The Professor thought on this statement. "No Robyn, you must be imagining it. No-one came to visit the girls last night OK, I have everything on my list, let's go to the checkout." 

As they passed a rubbish bin, the Professor was about to throw away his shopping list, when he noticed something. The items toward the end of the list were, in order: 

Rutabaga  
Oranges  
Washing-up liquid  
Detergent  
Yams  
Ravioli  
Uglies  
Frankfurters  
Fish   
Bacon  
Onions  
Yoghurt  
Sausages 

"Of course. You said you saw some people leave my house this morning, Robyn. Were they flying?" 

The question momentarily knocked Robyn for six. "I think so. Does it matter?" 

"Of course it matters." The Professor was extremely agitated now. "The girls are in bed sick, so the only other people that would have been flying out of the house are…the RowdyRuff Boys. They must have had some hand in making the girls ill. Why didn't I see the link earlier? What's that…? There's fifty bucks, keep the change. Robyn, come on. We have to get back to my place, now!" 

As the Professor stormed off towards his car, with Robyn running along behind him, the woman at the cash register glanced after him and rolled her eyes. "Gee a whole seven cents!" She yelled at his retreating form. "I'll try not to spend it all at once!" Well, at least it raised a laugh from the people in the other queues. 

* * *

The moment the Professor arrived home with Robyn, he rushed down to the laboratory, leaving Robyn to go check on the girls' condition. After a quick rummage through a large closet full of previous successful (and not-so-successful) inventions, he came out with his PowerProf suit. 

"Aaaaaahhhh, now you'd better watch out, boys. I'll make you pay for what you've done to my girls." He ran to the front door, put the suit on, activated the jet-backpack, and flew in an unwavering line for the volcano-top observatory. "I promise, you will pay for this!" 

* * *

At around the same time, in the middle of Townsville, the RowdyRuff Boys were watching Mojo Jojo's old TV. Given the wrecked state of his lair, it was surprising that anything in it should work at all, but they had somehow managed to get a pretty good reception and were watching a Football match (take that to be American Football or Soccer, whatever…) 

"What! Are you blind, ref.? He can't do that! That's a fou…." At that precise moment, a thick red beam struck squarely in the middle of the TV, causing it to explode in a giant shower of sparks. "What the fuck?!? What was that?" 

"It was me, you sick and twisted hooligans!" came a shout from above them. All three boys simultaneously glanced up and saw, silhouetted against the sky, and framed by a large hole in the ceiling…the Professor. He was floating just below the level of the roof, and was wearing what could only be described as an ex-NASA spacesuit, retro-fitted with a jetpack on the back, a big laser eye-beam (The best I can liken it to is the one on Cyclops of the X-Men (Disclaimer: The X-men don't belong to me either).), and hydraulics system attached to the arms and legs, to give his punches and kicks that little extra power. 

"Oh yeah!" shot back Butch. 

"Hey, wait a minute. We ain't done nothin'!" Boomer screeched, realising that they were, in fact, innocent of whatever the Professor was accusing them of. 

"So you admit that you've done something then!" said the Professor triumphantly. 

"No," said Brick, "he means we haven't done anything. You never heard anyone misuse a double-negative before." 

"No, I never have. But enough of that! You made my daughters sick, and now I'm going to make you PAY for that!" 

"Your daughters…" queried Butch. "…The girls!" Boomer understood what the Professor was going on about. "Hey, man, you got it all bent out of shape. We had nothin' to do with that. They were already sick when we turned up again. We only came back yesterday evening." 

"I don't believe you! You're lying! You have to be lying!" the Professor yelled, and began firing eye-beams in all directions, blowing up electronic equipment left, right, and centre, and starting several small fires that quickly caught hold. 

"Hey dude, we're not lying. You got us all wrong. And anyways, put yourselves in our shoes. If we were the ones to make the girls sick, wouldn't we want to brag about it?" 

"Yeah, plus none of us knows the first thing about poisons, or medicines, or microbiology, or whatever the hell shit it is." 

By this point, the Professor was so mad, he looked like he was about to tear the entire mountaintop observatory apart with his bare hands. The fires that were burning away in the background glinted in his eyes, giving him a truly demonic appearance, as he rushed towards Butch, drawing his fist back, and yelling, "No! It can't be!" 

Then, his fist connected with Butch's jaw, and there was and almighty…

CRAAA-AAACK!!!

…Before Butch went flying backward and landed headfirst in the wall, unconscious, fires rapidly burning up everything around him. 

"Bro' we gotta help Butch, or he could burn to death…" yelled Boomer, and then, upon reflection, added, "…again!" 

"No," countered Brick, thinking fast. "First off, we gotta take care of The Nutty Professor over there." 

"Whaddya mean?" Boomer asked, confused. "He looks nothin' like Eddie Murphy!" 

"Ah, just shut your trap and grab a cable. This is going to be a truly electri-frying experience for him." 

And with that, they each grabbed the end of a big, thick electrical cable off the ground, whose other end was plugged straight into the main fuse-box, and charged at the Professor who was, uncharacteristically, gloating at his easy victory over Butch, and didn't notice the cables until 10,000 volts surged through his suit. 

Immediately, the PowerProf suit started smoking, and then several main components, like the eye-laser, exploded, showering the lair with more sparks and setting all the remaining equipment on fire. Then the suit itself exploded, tearing off the Professor's body in huge chunks. Luckily, the Professor survived unscathed and, realising his huge luck, turned and legged it out of there as fast as his legs could carry him. 

* * *

He watched. He saw. He saw everything. 

He saw the Professor's suit exploded in a shower of bright lights spreading right across the spectrum. He saw him realise he had lost his chance, and run away. And he saw the boys, lying motionless against the far wall, as the flames crept in all around them. 

Slowly, he advanced on the three boys, walking through the fire as though it wasn't even there. And to him, it wasn't. Fire was simply energy, and he had control over energy. He had control over everything. Everything, that is, except for those beings that were created artificially. Beings created with "super powers". 

__

Super powers indeed. These creatures are pitiful. They could never hope to face me on equal terms. They do not even know their full potential, yet less do they know mine. I could destroy them as they would destroy a bug. But no…there would be no sport in that. They must suffer. And, if I am to attain my goals, then I must rid the universe of all like them. If they all combined their powers, they might…but that will not be allowed. And the ones on this world are closest to knowing my scheme. They must be stopped! All 6 of them! And now, these 3 are at my mer…no, not again! It can't be! NOOOOOOOOOooooooo…"

As he approached them, a vortex opened up in front of him, and he was sucked through it, landing butt-first in a cave somewhere far away. It was completely sealed and, when the vortex closed, inescapable, for here, he had almost no powers. He could only remain on our world for a limited duration each time. There was a sensation of great velocity, as though the cave was the hollow inside of some small celestial body. 

__

Blast! So I am returned to here. I have so little time left; only a few short months…otherwise, I will die, and GOODNESS will eventually win out in the universe! I must get back there, as soon as possible…

And so he waited, and prepared himself to beginning the task of re-opening the vortex again. 

* * *

The RowdyRuff Boys, on the other hand, weren't even that lucky. As the cables had connected with the metallic suit, the high voltage had not only surged into the suit, but also into both boys. Though they had super powers, and an amazing regenerative ability, they were not immune to physical injury, and caught most of the brunt when the electrical circuit was completed. 

They were thrown back against the wall, where they landed either side of their fallen brother, and were unconscious even before they hit the ground…and wall. 

And as the three boys lay there, in the observatory that once belonged to Mojo Jojo, the place was slowly being consumed in flames. No one was around to save them, for no one knew they were there, and wouldn't go to their rescue anyway. They simply lay there, helpless against the gradual advance of the flames…

To be continued…


	6. A new day dawns: Part 2

Disclaimer: See part 1. 

The PowerPuff Chronicles

3 - A new day dawns

Chapter 2

* * *

* * *

There was a loud crash as the Professor, still riding the high he was on from beating the RowdyRuff Boys, crashed through the front door. "Oh well, I'll clean it up and replace the door later" was all he thought about it, as he had bigger fish to fry at the moment. In particular, he had to find a cure for whatever was poisoning his girls. 

"Now, what to do, what to do…? Equipment, I must begin analysing the…the toxin, yes", he muttered to himself, as he stripped off the PowerProf suit in the middle of the lounge, and wondered down to his basement lab. Unfortunately, he couldn't have picked a worse time to ignore the local news bulletin on the TV, not the mention the hot line buzzing frantically away in the background. 

"And now, for the latest on the monster rampaging through Townsville Park, we go to our on-the-spot reporter, Clark Devonshire…" 

* * *

"Yes, Daniel, I'm here at Townsville central park where a monster is currently running amok near to the seemingly abandoned lair of the PowerPuff girls #2 enemy, Mojo Jojo. Unfortunately for us, the Girls are otherwise…engaged at this time, according to a press release from the Mayor's office, and so our own highly trained servicemen and women are dealing with this crisis." 

The reporter, a tall man in his early thirties, gestured behind him at the current scene of chaos in central Townsville. "The monster appears to be an enormous eye…on four legs. It has no other characteristic features, as it has no other features at all, and I think we can safely say that never, in the history of Townsville has anything remotely like this been seen. On film, at least." 

"As I am sure you can see, the troops are slowly pushing the…eye backwards, away from Townsville, to a safe distance, at which point they will begin the process of trying to destroy…." 

Just then, three familiar looking streaks of light appeared from behind the gigantic eye, and flew rapidly towards the startled camera crews on the outskirts of the park. Clark tried to hide his astonishment at this sudden turn of events, albeit not very well, and did what he did best in moments such as these. He improvised. 

"…And it seems as though we have, for some unknown reason, been misinformed as to the girls' movements. Girls, if I may ask you a few questions? Girls…?" 

"Hey, Brick" 

"Yo Boomer. What is it?" 

"What the fuck-shit do you think that was all about?" 

"How the fuck should I know? Seemed to be some big eyeball. Like it's anything to do with us, anyway." 

"So, where we goin' to, then? Gonna teach that Professor dude a lesson, are we?" 

"Nah, that suit of his was too powerful. It might be damaged but, well, why take the risk?"

"Whatever". "So, what are we gonna do then?" asked Butch, who finally felt like speaking up, after trying briefly to pound his skull back into shape. "We're not gonna help him to try an cure 'em, are we?" Brick just nodded. "Why in fuck's name would we do a thing like that? It's totally whacked!" 

"Yeah, well, this is how I figure it, see? The girls beat us once before, so if we try to be good, maybe we won't get killed again. Plus, their Professor has enough gadgets to do us in, even if the girls don't recover. So either we help him out, or we may as well leave town and go into hiding now, 'cos he'll be on the warpath. And he knows we back." His brothers couldn't disagree with this, so they decided to just go with the flow and follow Brick's lead. 

* * *

"Yo, Pro-fessor dude, we came to help you!" yelled Butch as loudly as he could when they arrived at the Utonium house near the city limits. 

Boomer just nodded and said, sarcastically, "Way to go. Now he'll probably just pound us into the dirt."

"Yeah well, either way, gets the job done quicker." 

The Professor heard Butch's yell, and quickly rummaged his spare equipment locker, and came out wearing a second PowerProf suit, with a tag still attached to it saying, 'Just in case I need a backup'. "Well, at least I plan for most emergencies", the Professor thought, wryly. He squeezed into the suit as fast as was humanly possible and then flew outside to meet the boys again. Meanwhile, Robyn having heard all the commotion downstairs decided to stay with by the girl's bedside, where she felt infinitely safer. However, she was listening intently to everything that was being said. 

"So, the little boys don't know when to quit. I guess I didn't almost kill you enough for what you did to my daughters." 

"Come on then, bring it on!" 

Brick held his more impulsive brother back with one arm, and said, "Look man, we didn't come here for a fight, 'kay? You beat us fair and square already. We just wanted to…"

"To what? To try and finish my daughters off?" the Professor asked, incredulously. 

Brick simply uttered two words in response. "To help". 

"WHAT?!?!? You want to help? You have the audacity to…I don't believe this. And how do you think you could possibly help?" 

All three just shrugged. None of them had the slightest idea when it came to biology, since they'd never received any formal education. "I dunno", said Butch, "maybe some blood samples would be useful". 

The Professor just stared at them as his mind tried to process this unexpected situation. _Blood samples? It's possible that they might be useful. And in this suit, I can easily overpower them if they are trying to trick me…I certainly have the upper hand in any confrontation, and anything that might help me find a cure for my children…_"OK, sure." The Professor activated a mechanism on his arm that revealed several small syringes, and quickly took a sample from each boy. Just as he finished with the last sample, he heard a noise in the distance. 

"What was that?" 

"What was what?" asked a slightly bemused Boomer. "Oh, the noise? That'll just be the giant eye that attacking downtown Townsville", he continued, nonchalantly. 

"What?!?" said the Professor, thinking to himself "_I seem to be saying that a lot lately…_" "What giant eye?" 

"The one we saw on the way here, of course", answered Brick, a bit thrown by this man's sudden reaction. 

"Well, if you really want to prove you've changed…" said the Professor, pointedly. The boys didn't miss the implication. 

__

Eh…why not? And if we do a good enough job, then we might even escape a town lynching. 

"Well, what have we got to lose, guys?" asked Brick. 

"I dunno", answered Butch, doing a pretty good impression of a brain-dead moron, "we could die…"

"…again," completed Boomer, "but what the hey, we've come back from the dead already. There has to be a reason for it, and saving Townsville is as good as any other I can think of. So let's go kick some monster ass!" 

And with that, they headed off to save Townsville for what would be their first, but hopefully not their last time. 

* * *

"As you can see," continued Clark who was still at the scene of the latest monster attack on Townsville, "the army don't seem to be having much luck yet, trying to force the monster out of the city of Townsville…." Then, as he looked up into the sky with a forlorn expression, he noticed three brightly coloured streaks of light closing in on the monster at an incredible rate of speed. 

"…however, it seems as though the PowerPuff Girls have come back from whatever important thing they were doing to save the day. And just in the nick of time, too!" 

In fact it was, of course, the RowdyRuff Boys, thinking they'd be a trio of have-a-go heroes. And why not, considering they had the superpowers required for the job. 

"OK," yelled Brick, above the sound of air whistling past them, "no time for a plan, let's just hit it with everything we have. On the count of three, go team!" 

"On the count of three!" agreed his two brothers, flanking him in the standard triangular formation. 

Brick waited a couple of more seconds, until they could see not just the white, but also the blood vessels of the eye, and then yelled "Three!" Immediately, Butch swung round to the right side of the giant eye, while Boomer peeled away to the left. That left Brick heading straight for the front of the monstrosity. 

As Brick powered straight in from the front, he went into a dive and fired his eye-beams at one of the creatures' legs. After several seconds of continuous fire, he realised that the legs were naturally armoured, and started firing at the joints specifically, in the hopes of locating a weak spot. 

Meanwhile, Boomer and Butch's eye-beams were having little or no effect either, as the substance that the eyeball was made of actually seemed to absorb their laser. In the end, they just decided that enough was enough, and went in with fists flying. Butch impacted with the eye first, and instantly regretted it as the substance that the eye was made of was incredibly rubbery, almost super-elastic in fact, and he was bounced backwards into a nearby skyscraper. 

All this time, Clark was busy below them, relaying the evolving fight scene in a blow-by-blow commentary, when he suddenly realised something. "Wait a minute…those aren't the PowerPuff Girls. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that they look exactly like the girls though…oh my God, it's the RowdyRuff Boys! Everyone hide, before they turn on us!" 

And with that, what little order remained at the scene of the fight decided to pack up and go on holiday. People were running in every direction, most trying to get away to a safer distance, some trying to see more clearly exactly what was going on, and some just running around in circles, panicking. To add this sudden and complete pandemonium, the monster chose now to unleash a hitherto unknown ability, and fired it's own laser straight at the all three boys, who had just regrouped to plan their next attack

Once the three boys recovered from the shock of the attack and peeled themselves out of the sidewalk, they were really pissed off. "That's it! This thing has to have a weak spot somewhere!" hissed Brick angrily. 

"I know!" said Butch, which got an immediate reaction from both his brothers. "The lens! It's always the weakest spot on an eyeball!" 

"How in fuck's name…ah, forget it, let's just go with the man", said Boomer, who was too burned around the edges to give a damn. 

The boys rose back into the air, much to the surprise of the eyeball-on-legs, which thought "_What? But how could they survive my optic blast?_" Then, they flew straight at the centre of the eye, at the black disc that was it's lens. When they were within just a few dozen yards of it, all three boys fired their eye-beams directly at lens. 

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, as the laser beams struck the lens head-on, but then the beams were magnified through it, and became much larger and more powerful. Upon striking the rear of the eyeball, they set it's retina alight, and the eye exploded in a giant (eye?) ball of flame, and showered everything within a couple of hundred metres in vitreous humour (A/N That's the liquid that fills out an eyeball and makes it spherical). Needless to say, the boys felt in a very humorous mood once the chaos died down. 

However, the general panic and then relief that swept through the assembled crowd did not in any way appear to affect the performance of Clark Devonshire, Townsville's foremost reporter for all such emergencies, who smoothly carried on his speech as though this sort of thing was a daily occurrence. Which of course it was. 

"And for once, the day has been saved by the…" 

"Be careful what you say next mate, be very careful" said Butch, landing to Clark's left, as Brick and Boomer touched down on his other side. 

"If you'll all excuse me…" nobody actually heard the end of that sentence, as Clark took off at a run, for anywhere that was as far away from the boys as possible. 

"What'd we say?" Butch asked, a bit confused by the sudden change in reaction to their presence. 

"Well," said the Professor, who had arrived seemingly out of nowhere, but had in actuality been standing watching the entire scene carrying on for several minutes, "perhaps it was not so much what you said, but the fact that last time you three appeared in Townsville, a large portion of it was destroyed, and my girls were almost killed." 

Brick shrugged. "We'd say sorry to you, to them, to everyone, but where's the point? Would anyone pay any attention? I don't think so. You know how people react to each other far better than we do, Prof. First impressions count for a whole lot, and we've already made ours. It's gonna be impossible to change people's minds now, so why bother?" 

The Professor stepped right up to Brick, so that he was staring the teen Ruff right in the eyes. "You have super powers. You have brains. You know the difference between right and wrong, so why not fight for good, instead of against it? You never know, you may even be able to convince the citizens of Townsville that you can really be good." All three nodded in a half-hearted agreement with that statement. The Professor addressed his next remarks only to the red Ruff, as he appeared to be a leader of some sort. "Oh, and I've done my tests. Thank you all for supplying samples, they really helped me." 

"No probs, Prof. So, what's the four-one-one on the girls then?" 

"Well, it seems that the Chemical X in their systems has been completely neutralised, and the toxin which caused this has eradicated itself." 

Only Brick seemed to register the full impact of the problem that the Professor faced. A shocked expression replaced his usually steely-determined façade. "What, you mean they lost their superpowers? Can't you just inject them with more Chemical X?" The Professor was already shaking his head before Brick had even finished his sentence. 

"Unfortunately, it's not quite as simple as that. You see, we recently discovered that the active ingredient that gives you all your super powers is, in fact, the toxic waste, and not Chemical X at all. Plus, their bodies would simply reject an infusion of the pure chemical. It has to come from another living people, like a blood transfusion." 

"What?" said Boomer, who had finally lost the conversation altogether, after making a valiant attempt to understand without asking for it to be dumbed down to a level he could follow. "So if the toxic waste gives us our powers, what does Chemical X do? I mean, the girls had it, but we don't." 

"Actually, you do." They all look totally perplexed at that single sentence. "Well, you do now, at any rate. My PowerProf suit detected large quantities of Chemical X energy radiating from all three of you while I was taking blood samples at the house. It seems you were all altered somehow when you were brought back to life." 

The Professor started wandering around quite aimlessly as he spoke, motioning with his arms for extra emphasis. "It seems that the role that the Chemical X plays is to make you, and all like you, good. When you came back from the dead, some force altered your physiology, and you now each possess a gland that secretes Chemical X into your blood supply. That is why you are now good. Come on, I'll try and explain more on the way back to the house." 

* * *

"So," said Butch, once they were all comfortable and the Professor had begun their journey home in his car, "what's happened to the girls? If they've lost their Chemical X, then they've turned evil." 

The Professor nodded at this, careful to remain aware of any traffic at all times. "Yes you're absolutely right." 

"So?" Butch pressed. The Professor reluctantly revealed what he had done to temporarily calm the girls. 

"You knocked them out? How?" Brick asked, astounded. 

"I injected them with a general anaesthetic. About enough in each girl to knock out a large bear. They'll all wake up with large headaches and a big bruise from the injection." 

Boomer, who had been trying to work out exactly what was going on around him - always a challenge for him - put two and two together. "And you want us to donate more blood for a transfusion, so that the girls Chemical X will be replaced, and they'll be good again?" 

"Precisely." 

* * *

When they arrived back at Professor Utonium's house, he immediately refilled his syringes, this time from their legs instead of their arms, and then showed them to the girls' bedroom. 

When they entered, they saw three girls lying, apparently peacefully asleep, each in their own bed. The beds were colour-coded in sky blue, hot pink and lime green. The carpet beneath them was also coloured in the three separate colours, and there was a circular window above each bed, allowing the sun to shine down on the girls' faces as they slept. A solitary girl sat facing Blossom's bed, and she turned to face the newcomer's when she heard the door slowly creak open. 

She was about average height, quite slender, with waist-length brown hair and brown eyes to match. There was a distinctly worried look on her face when the boys and the Professor entered, which quickly changed to a relieved expression when she realised that help might have arrived for her friends. 

All three boys simply stared at her, as though their brains had ceased to function, and Robyn stared back at them, thinking about just how much they looked like the PowerPuff Girls, and thinking about everything that she had heard about them from all the kids and teachers at school over the years. They were still feared and respected among the citizens of Townsville as the only villains in the city ever to truly be considered the girls' equals. Sure, over the years, lots of attempts had been made to defeat the PowerPuffs one way or another, but none had come closer than that of the RowdyRuff Boys themselves. Indeed, an entire wing of the Townsville art gallery was filled with images of their likeness. 

"Let's get this over with, shall we?" asked the Professor, already moving to inject Blossom with a blood sample taken from Brick. Each sample had been mixed with a mild stimulant, and so Blossom began to regain consciousness as the Chemical X from the needle started to take effect. Before she was fully awake though, the Professor had already moved to administer similar injections to both her sisters. 

As Blossom struggled to make sense of her surroundings, one of the first things that she noticed was three roughly PowerPuff shaped objects moving slowly towards her, until they almost filled her vision. A word was trying to form in her mind. _Row…Rowdy…Rowdypuff toys…no, Rowdymuff boys…closer…no, wait…RowdyRuff Boys! _

Suddenly, Blossom was more wide-awake then ever before. "Girls!" she yelled. "RowdyRuff Boys!" That got their attention. "Attack!" 

To cut a long story, well, shorter, the next five minutes consisted of nothing but the RowdyRuff Boys getting the living shit beaten out of them. Finally, the Professor was able to interject. 

"Girls, please! For God's sakes, stop that this instant. First of all, the boys aren't evil anymore, and secondly, the Mayor just called to say that there's a giant monster attacking Townsville. So you'd all better hurry." 

All six of the super powered adolescents struck off through the roof as one, as though they had practised the manoeuvre many times together. However, this couldn't have been further from the truth. They bickered all the way to the site of the latest disaster, to face whatever monster was trying to destroy Townsville this time. Buttercup pointed out that the boys couldn't be trusted, so Butch mentioned the fact that the three boys had, that very same afternoon, despatched a giant eye-on-legs, and that this monster might in fact be related to the first one. 

Surprisingly, it wasn't, although it looked like it could have been. It had at least a dozen legs, and three giant lash-less eyes growing out of a deformed attempt at a body. The creature's blood vessels were throbbing rhythmically all over it's eyes, and the carapace appeared to be made out of some very flexible metallic substance, almost like semi-solid mercury. 

"Fine," said Brick, "take it on yourself. You'll only end up looking like super-fools." He motioned to his brothers to hold positions, and grinned smugly and rather annoyingly at the girls and Blossom in particular. That grin just made her want to wallop him good and proper, but at the moment, she had bigger fish to fry. 

"OK girls, here's the plan: we go for the legs, try to immobilise it before it tramples the city to death. Bubbles, BC, get some lampposts and try to get it behind the knees, make it buckle. I'm gonna try to remove it's legs entirely, one by one, so that it can't get back up. Hopefully, by the end of this, that monster won't have a leg to stand on (A/N: as opposed to certain Members of Parliament, who have always been legless!)." 

The girls swung their plan, and their various weapons, into action, and the tri-eye just ignored them and continued walking all over City Hall, and not in the usual way that large businesses do. Every time one of them struck one of the creatures' legs, it didn't hurt it at all, and they simply bounced back a foot or two from their own speed. 

Finally, the boys couldn't take anymore, and decided to go and help their former enemies to once again save Townsville from catastrophe. "Boomer, Butch, let's get this thing." 

Both of them turned to him, wondering what plan he had up his sleeve. Before either of them could ask, he told them: "Just like last time, all shoot at the eye." 

"Which one? There's three of them, 'case you can't count." 

"Quite right. OK, the centre one first, then go for the other two after." 

"Hey, it's a hydra right? It does have three 'heads', doesn't it?" 

"Yeah, so what about it Butch?" Boomer asked, wondering where this was leading. "Well, why don't we each take one? It only takes one laser beam to destroy an eye, so we' do it three times as fast." 

"Hey, nice thinking bro'. 'K Brick, let's do it." 

As before, the three boys flew in arrowhead formation, Butch to Brick's right, and Boomer to his left. All three charged up for a giant blast at their respective eye, and then shot. As they did so, they also collectively shouted a warning to the girls, who were still busy attacking it's legs to no avail, and who could quite easily have been crushed if it fell on them. 

In fact, it did fall on them, as pieces of eyes and legs exploded, and flew straight up into the air before coming crashing back down to earth with a sickening squelch, right on top of the PowerPuff Girls. The boys flew over to the wreckage and general debris, and pulled the girls out of the bits and slime. 

Buttercup, annoyed, attempted unsuccessfully to remove herself from Butch's grasp, before finally kneeing him between the legs. Even with the powers granted to him by the Chemical X in his system, it still hurt like hell. Some things are just always the same, even for super kids. Butch doubled over in shock and more than a little pain. 

"Get of off me, you jerk!" yelled Buttercup, then kicked him a rather surprised Butch in the head, which caused him to finally release her and fall to the ground where he sat while he caught his breath. Likewise, his brothers released and floated back from the other girls. 

"Stay the hell away from us, you here?" Blossom was afraid, angry, and more than a little suspicious of the RowdyRuff's motives. "Now, we're going home. You go wherever you want. Just don't harm anything, and don't come near us, OK?" The look on the girls' faces pre-empted any smart-aleck comments that the boys may have made. "In return, you get to live, got it?" added Buttercup, as she dusted herself off. Then, all three girls simply took off, without uttering another word. 

"'Stay away from us', huh!" muttered Butch, doing a passable attempt at mimicking Buttercup's vocal expression. "We'll show them, right Brick bro'?" 

Brick simply nodded his head as they returned to Mojo Jojo's old mountaintop lair, now their own base. "Yeah, we'll show 'em alright…" he agreed, a big grin forming on his previously scowling face. They disappeared into the observatory. 

* * *

__

So all it not lost. The little boys and girls are not allied. Not yet, at any rate. Because of this, I still have a major advantage, but I must plan what I will do next, with careful precision and attention to detail. None of them must circumvent my schemes again. I will make those little female brats pay especially dearly for not coming to the dark side. I shall not be so lenient on them next time. But now is a time for preparation, not action. 

The figure turned and walked back into a nearby alleyway, half-obliterated by the recently destroyed opti-hydra. Then, he concentrated on a section of wall, and began to chant. After only a few short moments, a doorway formed in front of him, and he stepped through it, returning once again to his asteroidal prison cell. 

There he planned. 

He prepared. 

He waited. 

* * *

A couple of hours later, the PowerPuff Girls were chatting with Robyn in their joint bedroom. They were all lying on the floor, dressed in their pyjamas, and were thinking back over the day's events. 

"I'm real glad the Professor let me sleep over with you three tonight" said Robyn, staring up at the ceiling. 

"So am I", replied Bubbles, and rolled over on the carpet. 

"Well," said Blossom cheerfully, "I'm glad that's over with. We'll never see those boys again. At least, I hope we won't…" 

* * *

To be continued…


	7. A lesson well learnt

OK, I edited the last part slightly. There was no need for the short, sharp Puff biology lesson, and I've changed my mind anyway, they're anatomically the same as humans, and reproduce in the same way. 

Oh, and to anyone who reads this part and thinks I'm incredibly tactless, sorry in advance, but I won't say anything, 'cos I don't want to ruin the plot. And now…

Disclaimer: See part 1. 

The PowerPuff Chronicles

4 - A lesson well learnt

* * *

* * *

"Hurry up girls, or you'll be late for school!" The Professor's voice floated up from the kitchen. 

As Bubbles flashed past in a streak of sky blue, Buttercup remarked sarcastically, "Gee, and we wouldn't want that. Why can't school start later in the day?" 

"Because," said Blossom, turning in her seat to face her surly sister, "if it did, you'd sleep in even longer, and still only just make it into school on time". With a smug look on her face, she then went back to brushing her waist-length hair. 

A couple of minutes later, they arrived downstairs, to find the Professor serving up a large stack of pancakes dripping in maple syrup. 

"Oooooh, pancakes, my favourite" said Buttercup, and then dove at the table to join Bubbles, who was already stuffing her face silly. 

"Ugh, disgusting" Blossom observed, and then proceeded to eat quickly, as she had noticed the time. "Come on, you two, or we're gonna miss the bus in a moment." 

"Yes Bubbles, Buttercup, your sister is quite right. Now," Bubbles, kissed him on the forehead, "do as your teachers tell you to," Buttercup gave him a peck on the cheek, "don't get hurt saving Townsville," all three picked up their backpacks and floated to the front door, "and try not to kill the RowdyRuff Boys if they show up, OK? They did save you, after all." 

"Don't remind us. Bye Professor, see you tonight." Just at that moment, the school bus turned up, so the three young girls ran to it and hopped on board. They went straight to the back seat, where they always sat with their best friend Robyn. As always, she was extremely happy to see them. 

"Hey guys, wanna come over my place tonight? My folks are gonna be late back, so they said I could invite you over for a video and a feast." 

"Why not? We could certainly do with a bit of break, couldn't we?" asked Blossom, as they got comfortable for the short journey to school. Once they'd arranged to meet after last period (they only had some classes together), talk turned to more serious matters. Namely, the RowdyRuff Boys. 

"So how come they're back anyway?" asked Robyn. The girls had told her of the last time they'd met the RowdyRuff boys, while they were still in kindergarten. She'd tried not to imagine it too vividly. 

"Well," ventured Bubbles, as she plaited her hair in a long ponytail, "maybe Him brought them back to try and, you know…" 

"Take us out? Nah, not his style. Him prefers to work alone. Good idea though, and better remember it just in case. Here, Mojerk might have brought them back, mightn't he?" 

"Along with creating us? Buttercup, Mojo's ambitious, but he's not that stupid. Even he wouldn't try to create and control six puffs. It's just too many for one monkey. Then again, he is big on multiple redundancy…" 

"Yeah, and after we sent our younger selves back through time for the Professor to care for, maybe the boys were meant to attack us in case Mojo didn't go back to his lair."

The others all stared at Bubbles. "What? I can't try and think like an evil genius every now and then?" 

A couple of minutes later, the bus arrived at the school, and all the kids, as usually happens, tried to pile off together. Finally, as the four girls stepped onto the playground, the first bell rang, so everyone headed in to registration. It was such a lovely day that none of them wanted to go into a stuffy old classroom, and as Blossom's mind wandered with this thought, she noticed three boys who looked incredibly familiar, sprinting into the school. They didn't really stand out in the crowd, and if she had actually been looking for them, she probably wouldn't even have noticed that they were there. But still, they looked so familiar, maybe…

"No, it can't be them, can it?" she asked herself, as she headed into the main building. 

* * *

"So, what're we doing in a fucking school, leader guy?" asked Butch, as they aimlessly wandered the corridors in search of their target, and were spectacularly noticed by absolutely no one. Such was the possibly false sense of security in Townsville and its out-lying districts. 

Brick sighed. He'd already been over the plan twice with Boomer, and had rather been hoping that that wouldn't be the next set of words to leave his green brother's lips. However, he decided, against his better judgement, to outline the plan yet again. 

"We're here to show those PowderyFluff's that they can't shove us around, right?" 

"Yeah, I got that much, but how're we gonna show 'em, Brick?" 

"Aaah, now that's the really cool part." Said Brick, suddenly feeling inexplicably happy. "Listen closely, we don't want anyone to overhear…"

As he whispered the details of his plan to his brothers, three giant grins grew on their faces. 

* * *

A couple of minutes later, Ms. Etic was busily setting up her biology ready for her seventh grade class. They could arrive at any moment, and she didn't want them to be waiting for her to finish preparing the equipment, as they almost always got restless and started a riot if they had to wait for more than 30 seconds. 

The door to the lab opened so quietly that she didn't even notice it. Nor did she notice the sound of one of the Bunsen burners being disconnected and the gas supply being turned on to full. Unfortunately for Ms. Jennifer Etic, she was suffering from a chronic cold, brought on by far too much smoking. Fortunately though, she wasn't smoking at the moment. 

"There, that's all the apparatus ready, and just time for a quick fag before the kids get here" she muttered, as she searched her pockets for a stray cigarette and lighter. As she turned around to check that none of the kids had arrived yet, she failed to notice the door swinging shut, or the figure that floated rapidly past the other side of the glass panel, rubbing his hands together gleefully. Then, the figure glided around the corner, and disappeared into the school's basement so that he wouldn't be noticed. 

Just then, her first class full of children began to file into the laboratory ready, if not willing, to absorb new knowledge that day. Ms. Etic noticed this, and took her place at the front of the class, ready to begin the lesson. 

"Good morning class. Mitch, stop pulling on Bubbles' hair like that or I'll give you a detention. There's no need to go sticking your tongue out at me either, young man or I'll make it a Saturday detention, is that clear?" 

Mitch hurriedly let go of Bubbles' ponytail, and satisfied himself with the knowledge that he had only just started making a nuisance of himself for the day. Blossom turned to Buttercup and asked, "Where'd Robyn get to, BC? She has biology with us." 

Buttercup nodded in response, and then pulled her bubble-gum out so that she could elucidate her statement. "Call of nature. She'll be here in a mo'." 

"Class, please take your seats. We'll wait briefly until Robyn arrives", _and I can have a quick smoke while we wait. _

"Miss"

"Yes, Blossom? What is it?"

"I'm not sure, Miss, but I think that I can smell gas." 

"You're probably just imagining it, Blossom. Everyone, get out your textbooks, and open them to page 42." As she said this, she brought her cigarette lighter up to her mouth, and struck it, lighting her cigarette first time. 

For just a moment, everything seemed to stop. There was a sensation of intense heat, which permeated throughout the biology lab, and a sudden gust of wind sprang up in the room. Then, time returned to normal. 

KA-BOOM!!!!

The ball of flame that suddenly appeared out of nowhere expanded too quickly for anyone to have time to react. Even the PowerPuff Girls only had time to stare in utter shock and fear as it engulfed the classroom, one row of tables after another. 

As it spread, it used the energy it gained from swallowing up tables, chairs, people, and every other little thing, to fuel its expansion. It quickly swamped the whole room, and then died down just as suddenly, as all the energy in the room was now exhausted. 

The flames had also spread into the gas pipe that had been exposed, and travelled down it, burning continuously and periodically re-erupting, causing the pipes to explode. These relatively minor explosions travelled the length and breadth of the school, although they harmed nobody, as they were contained behind thick walls all the way. The explosions just travelled silently through the walls of the school building, causing some tremors, until finally, the gas supply was totally used up when the mains exploded, destroying the entire basement in the process. 

Then, everything went quiet. 

* * *

The emergency services started arriving in short order. First, the fire brigade did a thorough sweep of the school, to make sure that the building was still structurally sound. Then, with the aid of the police, a complete investigation began into the moments before the explosion occurred. Finally, the paramedics were allowed into remove the bodies; of the injured, and the dead. 

"Miss, Miss!" 

"Yes? Oh, Robyn. At least you're all right. Where were you?" Robyn just showed her the toilet pass in silent reply. "Ah, that explains it." 

"What happened?" Robyn asked, indicating the scene of total chaos. 

"There was an explosion…"

"An explosion? Was anyone hurt?" 

"Yes, but we're not sure of the casualty figures yet." Robyn was about to say something else, when they heard a woman's raised voice coming from somewhere nearby. It was Miss Bellum, the Principal of Utonium's Academy for Young Adults (named after the illustrious Professor, naturally). 

"Listen up, everybody. As I'm sure you all know by now, there has been an accident. There was an explosion in one of the biology laboratories about a quarter of an hour ago, and the local police and fire department are currently looking into possible causes. They need total concentration to carry out their work, so all lessons are being cancelled for the rest of the day. I repeat, the school is closed and will reopen tomorrow morning. All those who are not seriously injured please make your own way home otherwise report to a paramedic as soon as possible. That is all." 

As Principal Bellum finished this impromptu statement, many children of all ages began filing out of the school gates, while Robyn stayed behind, wandering around all alone, to try and find out more about her friends. 

Somehow, she ended up at Townsville Memorial Hospital. She didn't remember much about how she got there, and she didn't really care about it either. She was too numb from the events of the past hour or so to care about much at the moment, except the condition of her classmates. She heard a door slam wide open, and familiar footsteps sounded on the thick linoleum floor. 

"Where are they? What's happening? How are they?" The Professor fired his questions thick and fast at the receptionist, who couldn't cope with all this, as it was her first large-scale emergency. 

"Excuse me Professor, I know what's going on" Robyn interjected, while the receptionist was forming vague vowel sounds and looking like a fuse had blown in her head. 

"Oh, it's you Robyn. How are you?" he asked, when he realised who was talking at his elbow. 

"I'm fine sir, but your daughters are in ICU at the moment. They're out cold." 

The Professor was aghast at this statement. "You mean they're comatose?" Robyn just nodded in response. "How many were there?" 

Robyn snapped back to reality from wherever she had momentarily gone to, and shrugged. "Far as I can tell, the full class. If I had needed to go to the toilet, then I…I…I…" she couldn't finish that thought, and just sat down once again with the Professor in the waiting room. She was so shocked, she didn't even have enough energy to cry. So she just sat there, and let Professor Utonium comfort her. 

A door swung open, and a voice said, "Professor Utonium?" He looked up in response. "Your daughters are awake sir. You can come in to see them." 

The Professor took Robyn's hand and the two of them followed the doctor into the ICU ward, feeling a little better. 

* * *

__

Blast! It didn't kill them…oh well; I'll just have to try harder next time. The man thought. _Those annoying little girls are still alive, but they won't be able to do anything against me, and they certainly won't become allies with those equally pesky boys now, as they'll think that the boys did this to their place of education. My plan may not be going exactly as I wish it to, but its working well enough. _

The man then turned and floated off down the corridor, to go back home and plan his next move against the six puffs. There was a long way to go, but he had more than enough time to complete his plan. 

* * *

Because of the girls' miraculous healing powers, they were signed out later that afternoon, and the Professor took them straight home. He also decided to give Robyn a lift back home while he was at it. 

Later that evening, the girls were lying on the floor in front of the couch, watching a documentary about the effect of ozone depletion on the flora and fauna indigenous to the South American rainforests. Bubbles was interested because it was all about pretty plants and animals. Blossom was interested because it would help her with her term paper for Geography. And Buttercup was interested in trying to get hold of the remote control from Blossom. 

"Aww, come on Bloss, what's the deal? Why do we gotta watch a boring documentary?" she said, once more reaching for the remote, which lay just out of reach on the far side of Blossom. 

"Because." 

"That's not a reason." 

"Hey, could you two pipe down, I'm trying to watch this." 

"Yeah right, like you even understand what they're going on about." 

"Maybe not, but I never will if you two keep yapping!" 

"So, come on Bloss, why've we got to watch this boring piece 'o crap?" 

"Because the Professor left me in charge while he's downstairs, and 'cos I'm the oldest." 

"Bull. We were all created at the same time." And while Blossom was trying to think of a counter-argument, Buttercup finally got her hands on the remote, and changed the channel. 

"Hey! I was watching that." 

"Well, now you're watching this." 

"BC, give me back the remote this instant! There's no way we're going to sit here watching motor racing."

"Make me." 

"You asked for it." Blossom tried to grab the remote out of Buttercup's left hand, but Buttercup had a stronger grip then she realised. So, while Blossom was trying to pull the remote away from her with both hands, Buttercup snuck her other hand up to Blossom's unprotected side, and…

"Eeeeeeeee! Hehehehehehehe…s-s-stop that…hehe…But-t-t-tercup!" she squealed, as she let go of the remote and fell onto her back, laughing and squirming uncontrollably the whole time. Buttercup dropped the remote to leave her free to tickle her sister mercilessly with both hands, and Bubbles simply picked it up and switched back to watching the nature documentary. She was so engrossed watching and hearing all about foreign animals and plants that she didn't even notice the loud and continuous laughter of her redheaded sister just a few feet away. 

And talking of feet, Buttercup's next move was to grab hold of Blossom's feet and pull her shoes and socks off, leaving her now bare feet at Buttercup's tender mercies. There was a short cry of "What on e-e-e-earth do you…you think…hehehehe…you're d-d-d…hehehehehe…" as, unfortunately for her, Buttercup didn't have any mercies, tender or otherwise, and began to gently stroke the underside of Blossom's toes, eliciting a steady stream of high-pitched giggles from her. 

Buttercup thought she had successfully tickled her sister into submission and, surprisingly tired out, she decided to take a brief moment to catch her breath before renewing her attack. However, this brief moment also gave Blossom time to plan a comeback. She quickly twisted herself so that she was facing Buttercup's unprotected feet, and began removing her shoes and socks gently, so as not to give her sister any warning. Buttercup had noticed though. 

"Hah! Like I'm going to be ticklish, Blossom. I'm the toughest Puff there is." She exclaimed exultantly. The only reply that came from behind her was "We'll see about that." Then, she suddenly felt a single fingertip trailing the length and breadth of her right sole, before working its way between her toes and beginning to wiggle between them. _I won't laugh, I won't…oh god, that sure does tickle like…no, mustn't think about it, must try toooooo……_

She grunted from the strain of holding back her laughter. _Aha! I've found a weak spot!_ Thought Blossom, and exploited it as much as she could, wiggling all eight fingers between and around Buttercup's toes. Buttercup squirmed around a bit, trying to escape from the sensations, but couldn't because of the way she was kneeling. _OOOoooohhhh ggggoooooodddd nnnnnoooooooooooo………_"Come on Buttercup, you know you want to laugh, don't you? Kitchy Kitchy Coo!" Blossom sang from behind her. 

"I am not ticklish…I am not ticklish…I am not…ticklish…I am…hehe…not ticklish…hehehe…I am…hehehehe…not…hehehehehe…tihehehehehehe………ticklihehehehehehehehe!" Buttercup squealed, just as the Professor came into the lounge after finishing his latest experiment. 

"Girls," he began, wiping his glasses thoroughly, "if I could have a moment, there's something I need to tell you all."

"Sure, Dad", they chorused, all three leaping onto the sofa as one. Bubbles turned off the TV, and her sisters replaced their shoes and socks, as the Professor began. 

"Girls, you know what happened at the school today?" he said, a little apprehensively. 

"Yeah," Blossom answered for them, "there was an explosion, and now our class is in hospital." Then she thought some more about that statement. It was a sad fact that she could say something like that, and see it as a (not quite) everyday occurrence. "How are they?" 

The Professor's face fell even further. "Well, that's what I wanted to say. The explosion was too powerful. They're all dead." 

The girls were shocked into silence for a moment. "All of them?" asked Buttercup, for once completely serious. 

"Yes. You three and Robyn are the only survivors." Before they could ask, he explained, "She was late for class." All four sat in silence. 

A couple of minutes later, although it felt much longer than that to them, a solitary sound drifted through the lounge indicating that someone was at the door. The Professor got up to answer it, leaving his three daughters to sit there, each coping in there own way with the traumatic news they had just received. 

"Oh, hello. Come in, Miss Miles, please." 

"It's OK Professor, I can't stay long. I had three new enrolments at the school today, and I was trying to find someone who could take them in." 

"We don't have anywhere to live, sir, and apparently we can't live somewhere without a responsible adult." Said a familiar voice. Bubbles recognised it as that of the blonde ruff, whom she didn't know the name of. She nudged Blossom and Buttercup, who were sitting either side of her, and then pointed to the door. There, standing just behind the school receptionist, Miss Miles, stood three boys. They each wore black jeans, and a sweater in scarlet, royal blue, or forest green. The boy in red was also wearing a red baseball cap, though it wasn't pointing backward anymore. They all had faces like the PowerPuff Girls themselves, except they were crowned with more masculine hairstyles, and they were floating a few inches above the ground. 

"You!" yelled Buttercup, quickly rising from her seat on the couch. "I thought we told you to stay away from us in future!" Then another thought dawned on her. "The explosion at school today. That was you three, wasn't it? WASN'T IT?!?" she yelled. Bubbles and Blossom floated up to flank her on either side. They prepared for battle. 

"The explosion?" Miss Miles butted in, pre-empting a full-scale riot. "No girls, that wasn't these boys. They were with me at reception the whole time. Enrolling at the school." 

"Yeah, we've changed, and we want to prove it to you three, OK?" said Brick. 

Boomer backed him up. "We're not expecting you to fall at our feet, just to acknowledge that we can be good, and for the six of us to…"

"…get along. That alright with you lot?" finished Butch, with a scowl positioned prominently on his face, matching the one on Buttercup's own. 

"Oh" Was the only reply that joint statement got. "Well," said Bubbles, cautiously, "if you didn't cause the explosion, then who did?" The boys just shrugged. 

"So, Professor, can the boys stay here?" asked Miss Miles again, hopefully. 

"Well, if its OK with the girls, then yes they can, ummm…"

"Pleasance", offered Miss Miles, before asking, "Well girls, do you mind the boys coming to live with you?" They had a quick huddle to come to their decision, and then Blossom floated forward. 

"No objections here Miss Miles, as long as the boys help with fighting crime when, and if, it arises. OK?" 

The boys cheered, which was cut short by Blossom saying, "Since we're going to be working together, I'm Blossom, this is Bubbles, and this is Buttercup", indicating them each in turn. "What's your names?" 

Brick simply replied, "I'm Brick. This," indicating his blonde brother, "is Boomer, and this is Butch." 

"I'm just going to go and prepare the loft for you three, alright boys?" said the Professor, already heading upstairs. 

"So what are we going to call ourselves?" asked Butch. "It'll be a cold day in hell before I call myself a 'PowerPuff Girl'!" 

"Well what about the RowdyPuff Kids?" asked Boomer. 

"Hey, how come your name comes first? It should be the PowerRuff Kids!" retorted Buttercup. 

And so the argument continued…

* * *

__

Blast! They're working together now. And moreover, they're living in the same house as well. I'm not going to be able to turn them against each other now…Why did those pesky girls so readily trust the boys when they said they didn't cause the explosion? Only when I have gotten rid of all six of them will I be able to escape my prison permanently. But, how? Hmmmmmm……

The man tapped his "chin" thoughtfully, as he considered his options. _Aha! They have at least one weakness…all humans have it…they laugh when they are tickled! Now, how best to exploit this. Ah, yes. Have them tickled until they don't know what's happening and are physically incapable of defending themselves, and then dispose of them all at the same time. Now, I saw some giant, sentient feathers over on "Monster Island" a few months ago. I think I'll go and pay them a little visit…hahahahaha…Hahahahahaha……HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!_

The man stood up to his full height of about two metres tall, and stalked off rapidly in the direction of "Monster Island", hoping to reach there before he was recalled to his prison once again. He had a lot of work left. _Places to go, people to do…_

* * *

To be continued…


	8. Do you see what I see?: Part 1

I need to plan ahead more with my story. I mean, what have I gotten myself into now? Giant, sentient feathers?!? Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. So this is the part where I try to write myself out of the hole that I've written myself into. Also, I'm finally giving my primary evil a name. Hope you enjoy, and here goes the 

Disclaimer: See part 1. 

****

The PowerPuff Chronicles

By Gregory Cooper

5 - Do you see what I see? - Part 1

* * *

* * *

Day 2557. Dear Diary, 

This last week, since the boys came to visit us, has seemed to last for an eternity.   
The boys need their own space; I know that, so the Professor Dad converted the loft into a bedroom for the three of them. I'm glad that at least none of them knows how to play a musical instrument, or the cacophony from above might never end! They stay up until all hours of the night, playing board games, card games, computer games…for which they've "borrowed" the spare TV, which had been in out room for god-knows how long. And they say that they stay up so late because it's the only time when they can muck about without our noise disrupting them. Us disrupt them? A nuclear detonation couldn't disrupt those three. And where they get the energy to train all day and play all night, I'll never know. They're like an unstoppable force of nature. I only wish that they would act more maturely, but they are only boys, after all is said and done.   
And talking of training, they're all three pretty good at it, in their own ways. And who would have thought that the blue one, Boomer, would be so squeamish when it comes to big monsters? Sure, he'll fight them, but he prefers to leave his brothers with the…messier side of fighting, while he uses his lasers from afar. Brick, the red one, he's more of a mystery. He likes to plan ahead, but his plans aren't very…successful. And he totally ignores any and all advice I give him on principle. He doesn't like to admit that I know more about beating monsters and bad guys. It's pathetic. Some guys have such big egos.   
And Butch. Well, what can I say? He's how Buttercup would have turned out if she had a Y chromosome. He's smart but prefers to pound his way through the problem, rather than work around it. And he and Buttercup, they're constantly fighting, trying to prove who's tougher…if it wasn't for the fact that BC is a girl, I'd say they were hosing the place down in Testosterone pretty well. Think I will anyway.   
I have to go now. I'm late for breakfast, and then we've got the whole day to do anything we want. We have two whole weeks of holiday, before the second half of winter trimester. 

Blossom Utonium

* * *

Year 7, Day 2. 

Dear Diary, 

Everything's go, go, go! We've just gone on holiday, and there's two wonderful weeks to just have fun in. Not that school isn't fun, but it could be more fun, I think. Anyway, there's been so much happening in the last week, I hardly know where to begin. Well, here goes anyway.   
The RowdyRuff Boys have moved in with us. The Professor Daddy (Dad just sounds too formal) did up the loft for them to share while they stay with us, but they hardly ever sleep there. They mostly play around, making a lot of noise during the night. I know I'm quite a heavy sleeper, but that only really helps when you're already asleep, and they keep up the noise all night long! Just one thing after another, all night, no let-up at all, and then they wonder why we're tired in the mornings. The cheek!   
They've also started training with us, most days. Boomer's funny, he's a bit like me. He doesn't like blood and guts and goo and stuff, so he tends to keep away from that type of monster, like me, and lets the other four deal with them.  
Brick is quite like Blossom, 'cept he's less subtle. He goes around, barking out orders to his brothers all the time, over the slightest thing. They stand up to him, most of the time, but that doesn't shut him up either. And whenever all six of us are in the simulator together, Brick and Blossom start arguing about how to take on the monster or villain or whatever. It's a power trip, and this house isn't big enough for two egos like theirs.   
Butch is a bit quieter, but not by much. Most of the last week, after school, he'd just come home, and pound on a side of beef, that Daddy bought from the butcher's a few weeks ago. It was Buttercup's, but he "borrowed" it from her while she was asleep on their first night in the house. She's been arguing with him ever since to give the beef back, among other things. It's like some kind of "turf war" between them. Pathetic. Oh yeah, we've also come up with a new name for our group of six, one that's not sexist. It sounds a bit lame, but…  
I've got to go now, or Buttercup'll eat my lunch. Bye!!!

Bubbles. 

* * *

Entry # 84, October '05. 

A lot's happened in the last week and a bit, so I'll try to keep this short and sweet.   
First, the RowdyRuff Boys came back from the dead. That was plain freaky. Then, and this is even weirder, they saved us after somebody poisoned our food. After that, there was an explosion at school (faulty gas tap in the science lab, apparently). The whole class was killed, as was Ms. Etic. She was a great teacher, and I'll make whoever did that pay for it. Surprisingly though, it wasn't the boys. They were busy enrolling to join school (a week before mid-term holiday. Good timing or what?), and they needed a place to stay. The others said OK, so I figured I'd go along with it. After all, they seem to be good, and they're powerful, so it'd be good to have some help.   
But they turned out to be three major pains in the collective ass. Boomer's too much of a wimp to help in a fight, Brick is always arguing with Blossom about strategies (waste of time if you ask me), and Butch…he deserves to be castrated. He keeps "borrowing" my training equipment, and taking it up to their attic bedroom. And they train, and watch TV (also "borrowed, but I don't care, it was Blossom's), and play fucking games all night long. And then, at breakfast, Butch fucking well had the cheek to say that I looked like a mess! Hah! One of these days, I'm so gonna beat the crap outta him, I swear…  
And why should we trust them? Just 'cos they didn't set of the explosion, doesn't mean they're automatically good. They could be lulling us into a false sense of security, or worse. They could be trying to poison us with Butch's "cooking"!   
Have to go, or Butch will most likely "borrow" my friggin' dinner, too. 

BC. 

Oh yeah, I've also come up with the coolest name for the new gang, and I'll tell everyone at breakfast tomorrow. 

* * *

He had stalked quickly through the forests of "Monster Island", feeling rather unimpressed with the collection of mutants he had so far seen. All of them had some form of extensive injury, most likely caused by those pesky PowerPuff brats. As it was, he had been looking for just the right "monsters", to exploit the only weakness that he had witnessed the girls' exhibiting; their ticklishness. 

That was until he had seen something better. Or rather, until he had found something better. He had come across a cave at one point early on his search for the giant feathers (A/N what was I smoking?), and he could hear loud voices and heavy stomping noises coming from inside. However, on closer inspection, there were no creatures to be seen in the cave. 

The floor was covered in giant footprints, though none of them lead out of the cave itself, at least, not very far. There were no other exits from this particular cave, and that lead to only one possible conclusion; whatever he had heard in here, was still in here with him. 

Then suddenly, he felt a pair of very solid arms wrap around his waist, and begin to lift him effortlessly off the ground. Although the arms felt solid indeed, they were absolutely smooth, like the surface of a mirror. They were also incredibly hard, and they began to squeeze his chest, trying to crack him across his torso. However, the man was more powerful then he appeared to be. He focused his thoughts, and emitted a spherical shock-wave of psionic energy, just powerful enough to disorient his attackers. It also revealed them momentarily. 

They were very tall, at least a good 15 feet, if not more. They were muscular, and appeared to be milky white in colour, and reflected the almost all of the sunlight off their shiny carapaces. They seemed to be made out of diamond that, although it was solid enough to withstand most physical attacks, also flowed over the body in a smooth uniform manner, making them look like hairless Yetis. 

"Don't attack me again, if you know what's good for you." He said, in a deep voice that resonated within the cavern. 

"Well, you're human, and we attack humans. No humans allowed. This is Monster Island, not Human Island." Came the gruff response. They had already become invisible again. However, he could still ascertain their precise movements by paying attention to the appearance of new footprints in the soft clay ground. 

"As I am sure you have already realised, I am no mere human." Said the man, walking over to sit on a conveniently shaped rock. 

"We are ogre. Who are you?" Asked one of the creatures. The man just stared at him impassively. 

"I'm glad you asked, ogres. My name is Sutekh." He couldn't see the ogres' reactions, but he could hear their gasps of shock, horror, and amazement. He let it quieten down before he continued. "And I have a small proposition for you lot. Here is what I want you to do…"

* * *

Although it was the first day of the half-term holidays, the Professor still went around the house, waking everyone up at almost precisely the same time. However, whereas he used to gently shake the girls awake first thing in the morning, it was taken less personally by all concerned, and was far more expedient, if he simply yelled into his recently purchased loudhailer. 

"Wake up, everybody! As it's a holiday, I've let you sleep in until 9am, but you don't want to waste away your holiday by sleeping in, do you?" Just then, a large ball of hair floated past, before revealing itself to be Blossom. 

"Ah, Blossom, good morning! Make sure the others get up, will you?" 

"Sure thing, Dad" Blossom said through a big yawn, as she floated into the girls' bathroom. 

"And breakfast will be ready in 15 minutes!" He added, once again speaking through the megaphone. Suddenly, five more heads popped out; 2 from the girls' bedroom, and 3 from round the loft's staircase. 

"Can you keep it down!", "We heard you the first time!", and the loudest of all from Bubbles, screaming "There's no need to shout!" 

After that, there were various streaks of red, blue, and green as the six children whizzed around the top floor, getting themselves ready for their first day of the holidays. They all arrived at the kitchen table at exactly the same moment, and began to chow down on a stack of pancakes and maple syrup. The Professor's stomach turned as he watched the scene in semi-disgust. He turned to look out of the window. 

"So girls, boys, what are you lot going to do today? Because I have an invention to finish building."

"I bought this book a few days ago, and I'm going to read it today" stated Blossom, holding up a big, thick, hard-backed book. 

"What's that? Lemme see." Buttercup snatched the book out of her sister's hands. 

"Give it back Buttercup. Don't make me tickle you again, 'cos you know I will." 

"Yeah yeah, I know. Hah! "The Use and Abuse of Cliff-hangers in Modern Literature". Really interesting, I'm sure. And who's the author? "ButterButch"? Who's he?" 

Blossom successfully yanked her book back out of Buttercup's grasp, before stating, "SHE is a very respected expert in the field of English Literature, so there", and blew a raspberry at her green sister, to which Bubbles simply responded "What would English literature be doing in a field? Wouldn't it get all dirty from the cow-pats? What?!?" Everyone else just rolled their eyes at her. "Well I thought it was funny, anyway", spoke up Boomer. 

"So what're we gonna do?" asked Brick. "Anybody for the cinema?" Everyone shrugged. 

"Nah. Get enough action when we fight baddies" responded Blossom through a mouthful of pancake and syrup. 

"Yeah, but this is different." 

"How?"

"It's all the action, none of the physical exertion." 

"You know what?" Bubbles said, dripping maple syrup as she spoke, "he's got a point there." 

"Yeah, and I have been meaning to go and see that Arnold Schwarzenegger marathon playing at the multiplex. And Bubbles…"

"Yeah?" 

"You're dripping." Even the Professor laughed at that statement. 

However, a second later the familiar buzzing from the PowerPuff Hot line interrupted the moment of slight familial bonding. Brick was the first one to the phone. 

"Hello, PowerRuff, err……RowdyPuff, err…the Hot line. What's up, Mayor?" 

"You're not one of the PowerPuff Girls, are you?" said the Mayor, checking the phone was connected properly to the phone-line. 

"I'm a boy." 

"Oh, right. One moment, please." The Mayor turned to face his assistant, Miss Keane. "Miss Bellum, none of the PowerPuff Girls are boys, are they?" 

Miss Keane sighed. These days, more than ever, she admired Miss Bellum's strength of mind that had kept her from long ago going insane. "No sir, that's why they're called the PowerPuff GIRLS." She said slowly. "And I'm Miss Keane. Miss Bellum resigned 2 years ago, remember?" 

"What? Oh yes. Of course. Sorry. Now, where was I?" 

Miss Keane just managed to restrain herself from garrotting the Mayor with his own tie, and supplied the relevant information. "The buildings are collapsing Mayor. That's why you called the girls." 

"Oh yes." Miss Keane staggered out of the Mayor's office in search of an aspirin. 

* * *

"What's that Mayor? Something's attacking Townsville? Well, what sort of something?" 

All the others could hear was some garbled mumbling coming from the mouthpiece. 

"What do you mean, you can't describe it?" asked Brick, incredulously. 

"What does it look like?" shouted Blossom down the phone over Brick's shoulder. She listened as hard as she could, to try to make out his next words through Brick's head. "It doesn't look like anything? But that's not possible!" 

"It could be invisible, Blossom" interjected the Professor, from where he was reading his _Townsville Gazette_. 

"Cool!" Buttercup was greeted with several odd stares. "It'll make it more of a fair fight." 

"Fair is for wimps" cut in Butch. "Let's get it!"

"We're on our way Mayor. Don't worry, everything'll be fine." And with that, all six of them zoomed out of a - fortunately - open window, creating a gust that sucked the Professor's newspaper along with them. 

"Oh well. I suppose I have inventing to be getting on with anyway." He mumbled to himself, as he strode towards his lab. 

* * *

"So, while we're looking for nothing," shouted Blossom, in a mildly sarcastic voice, "has anyone come up with any more ideas for what we could call ourselves?" 

"I have." Butch shouted out from his position, hovering over the next intersection. 

"Nothing rude or lame, Butch." 

"Damn. That ruined every suggestion I had in one fell swoop." 

"Well I have a suggestion." 

"What's that then, BC?" 

"Actually, it's two different suggestions. The first one is the B-Brigade." 

"I thought the boss-lady said no lame names, but I see where you're coming from, BC." Butch said, making a face at her. 

"It was worth a try. And only my friends call me BC." 

"What am I then?" 

"You're pond-scum that I happen to work with." She flew up to his face, and held a fist right under his nose. "And stop nicking my fucking stuff all the time, you little shit! Or I'll knock you into the middle of next week. Got that?" 

Butch mock-saluted her. "Yes ma'am. You are so sexy when you're pissed off, you know that?" 

Buttercup flew away in disgust. "Eeeurgh! Don't try to come onto me. You are so beyond not my type, it's not even funny. Is your brother always like that?" she said, the last comment directed at Brick. He just shrugged. 

"Dunno. We've only been alive for about 9 days since we were first created." 

"Good point." Then something caught her attention at ground level. It was a lamppost being swung around, although neither end of it appeared to be attached to anything. "I think I just found one, you lot." She pointed straight down at the swinging post. "And my other suggestion was the Super Squad, if anyone even cares." 

"Great name, BC", yelled back Bubbles. Blossom was busily trying to come up with a plan. 

"Right. Ummm…converge on that lamppost and let's beat whatever's holding it, to death, 'kay?"

"Sounds like my kind of plan!" put in Boomer, cracking his knuckles as if he was a concert pianist. 

Blossom screamed "NOW!" and all six of them dove at the ground where the lamppost was being swung above. The post suddenly shifted position slightly, as though the creature that was holding it had altered it's grip to hold the thing better, and then swung it with new purpose towards the six teenagers. 

The boys, who were the first to reach it, literally fell out of the way, and bounced off the pavement before striking something solid, and yet completely invisible. They were joined a moment later by Bubbles and Blossom. Buttercup, though, was not quite as lucky. 

As the six of them flew towards the unseen monster, Bubbles had gotten directly into Buttercup's eye-line, and as a result, blocked her view of the rapidly incoming pole. As the other five ducked out of the way of it, Buttercup finally saw what was going on but alas, too late. It connected very painfully with, and wrapped around, her head before she was knocked out of the way and went sliding back across the intersection to crash into a waiting stoplight. It lit up like a Christmas tree momentarily, and then exploded under the stress of the impact. 

"BC, get your ass back over here this fucking instant!" she heard one of the others yelling at her. She wasn't quite sure which of them it was though, as the exploding stoplight had slightly stunned her. She felt herself floating off of the ground, and looked around. It was at this point that she realised that she wasn't actually floating, but had been lifted up by something very big and very strong. She also realised this just as a giant fist came smashing down on the back of her head, knocking her temporarily unconscious. 

"Buttercup! NO!" yelled Bubbles and Blossom at the same time, as they saw their sister being rather unceremoniously dropped back onto the cold asphalt. 

Everything seemed to go into slow motion as the girls rushed toward their fallen sister, the toughest puff there was. They saw nothing but her, lying on the ground, completely oblivious to all the commotion going on around her. As Bubbles and Blossom flew towards her at speeds they hadn't even known they were capable of until that moment, the boys simply stared at the scene being played out in front of them, with their jaws hanging open in utter awe. 

At the same time, a giant ball of energy began to form in the air above Buttercup, and Blossom naturally, and correctly, assumed that it was being created by one of these invisible creatures. She tried to fly faster, to save her sister. The energy ball grew in size, and as it expanded it also glowed more and more brightly, as though it were a miniature star. When it eventually became so bright that all nearby had to look away for fear of being irretrievably blinded, it shot straight at Buttercup, and impacted with her. 

There was an intense flash of an even brighter white, for just a moment. There wasn't the loud bang that is normally associated with an explosion, nor was there any discernible heat emanating from the site. 

As the light died away Brick, Boomer, and Butch flew over to the girls to see what had happened. What they saw was the last thing they had expected. No crater. No debris. 

No Buttercup. 

As the invisible monsters stomped away to Sutekh's base of operations Blossom and Bubbles, completely catatonic from shock, fell to their knees beside the spot where they had seen their sister lying just moments earlier, and cried. Boomer hugged Bubbles from behind in a consolatory manner, letting her release her pent-up feelings, and Brick just placed his hand gently on Blossom's shoulder, as if to let her know that he was there for her, if she needed him. 

* * *

Sutekh had watched these events happen from the top of a nearby office block, and then calmly walked over the far edge, falling to the ground a mile or so below. 

He got up, dusted himself down, and headed off towards his temporary base on the outskirts of Townsville. 

"One down, just five more to go…" he said to himself, already contemplating his next move. 

* * *

To be continued…

****

Author's Note: Sorry ButterButch, I couldn't resist doing this. Once I started writing it, it sort of took over. It was almost writing itself, and I was just its instrument. Oh well. And remember, anything's possible…


	9. Do you see what I see?: Part 2

Well, back at the end of May, when I finished my last exam, I gave myself a deadline of the last day of the summer holidays (midnight on 19/09/02) to post AT LEAST ONE more chapter. And with just over 12 hours left, I managed it! Yes! And now, on with the

Disclaimer: See part 1. 

Additional disclaimer: Craig McCracken and CN might own the names "PowerPuff Girls" and "RowdyRuff Boys", but they sure as hell don't own "Super Squad"! And I know that it initialises to SS, but I'd like to point out that I'm not a neo-Nazi. Thank you. 

****

The Super Squad Chronicles

By Gregory Cooper

5 - Do you see what I see? - Part 2

* * *

* * *

The first thing that she saw when she opened her eyes was blue. There was just a single giant expanse of blue-ness, stretching right across her field of vision. She sat up gingerly and took a look around in an attempt to get her bearings. 

"Unnggh......where am I? What in fuck's name happ...I'm in the street. Why am I in the street? And where the fuck have the others gotten to? And why did they leave me by myself...in the road?"

These were all very good questions, considering the situation that she currently found herself in. Unfortunately, the stoplight didn't know the answers to any of them, and so did the only thing it knew how. It changed to red. 

"Great. Well, I suppose I'm not going to get any answers if I sit here on my ass in the middle of an intersection. And I might get run over. Now that really would be annoying."

So she got up, dusted herself off, and started to head home. However, as she was flying close to Pokey Oaks elementary, she saw an old man crossing a road. He was clearly suffering from failing eyesight, Buttercup noticed, as he hadn't noticed a gasoline tanker coming towards him at high speed. The tanker's driver also hadn't seen the old man, as he was too busy studying a map of the area in and around Townsville. This was surely a recipe for disaster. 

Buttercup watched as the tanker rolled onwards to the old man's position, and everything seemed to go into slow motion. Both the pedestrian and the driver were totally oblivious to each other's existence, let alone their close, and ever decreasing, proximity. Buttercup noted this, and flew straight at the tanker, hand's outstretched in front of her, and at seemingly the last possible moment, rammed into the front of the tanker, bringing it to a screeching halt, just inches from where the old man had finally realized that he was moments away from becoming the latest development in road-kill for nearly a century. 

The driver immediately jumped out of her seat, bounded down the side of the cab, and ran to the old man to see if he was all right. 

"Sir, are you OK?" asked the driver, frightened that she had injured a pedestrian as much as she was frightened for her job at that moment. 

"Yes, I'm fine", replied the old man, quite perplexed by the entire situation. By all the known laws of physics, he should have already been dead. Obviously, a couple of the laws of physics had been, momentarily at least, repealed. 

"Well, if you're sure, then I'll..." the young driver stopped in mid-sentence, suddenly aware of something else that wasn't as it should be. This seemed to be a day filled with odd occurrences. "What on earth is that?" she asked, pointing at the palm-print indentations in the grille on the front of her tanker's driver's cab. Not only should the palm-prints not have been there, but also they only had three fingers and a thumb each, instead of the more usual four.

"It looks like something stopped your lorry, ma'am," said the old man, "but I don't have a clue as to what. Do you see anyone else round here?" 

"Not a soul, sir. Well, I should get on with making this delivery, and I'm sorry I almost ran you over. Well, I'll be seeing you around, probably." And the young woman got back into her cab, put the tanker back into gear, and drove smoothly off down the road. 

Buttercup was left behind, staring at the entire situation in utter amazement. 

OK, what just happened? I thought I saved that geezer's life, but he didn't even bat an eyelid! It was almost like I didn't exist. But that's preposterous. They saw my hand-prints on the front of the lorry for themselves, and just what on fucking earth did they mean by "There's no-one else here"? I was there the whole mother-fucking time! Unless I'm...a ghost? No! That can't be! Ghosts can't touch solid objects; much less stop a 10-ton gasoline tanker at speed, can they? Or maybe I'm a...what are they called? Poultry, no...polterghost? No...Poltergeist! That's it! Maybe I'm a poltergeist. But that still means I'm a stiff, doesn't it? 

As Buttercup's train of thought continued along these lines, she decided to head home. Even if she was dead, that didn't mean that she could no longer spend time with her family. 

* * *

"Dad, are you there?" asked Blossom, as the five kids entered calmly and quietly through the front door. 

"Yes, I'll be right there, how did the fight go, down..." The Professor trailed off as he looked at the five - frankly stunned - faces. "...Town? Where's Buttercup?" 

Bubbles decided that she should say something, anything, if only to simply fill the ominous silence that pervaded through the room like fog at that moment. So, to that end, she opened her mouth and "...eeep!" came out. 

"Buttercup's not coming home tonight, Dad" Blossom stated, forcing herself to stay upright for a few minutes longer. 

"You mean she's run away again? Oh dear lord, how many..."

"That's not what she meant, Prof," interjected Brick, attempting to make things clearer. "What she meant to say is..."

"Buttercup's dead, Daddy!" screeched Bubbles at a pitch bats would be proud of, jumping into the Professor's arms faster than anyone would have thought possible. 

"What on earth do you mean, 'dead'?"

"She means one moment, Buttercup was unconscious on the ground..." began Blossom. 

"...And the next moment, there was a blinding flash, and then she was just gone!" finished Boomer. 

"Is there some way you have made a mistake?"

"Nope, Prof-dude, no way" Butch said. "We were only about six feet away from her when she vanished. Nothing was left." 

"So we can't even resurrect her." The Professor's head dropped as a single tear finally escaped down his cheek. 

"Is that even possible?"

"To be quite truthful Bubbles, I hoped I'd never have to even consider it. But it might've been possible, yes." 

For a few moments - although it seemed infinitely longer to each of them - they merely stood in reflective silence. Then, finally, the Professor broke it. 

"I must begin making arrangement for a...memorial service. If any of you feel hungry, then please try to eat", he mumbled. 

"What about you?" 

He just gesticulated wildly as he stumbled towards the phone. "I'll...have something later. I'm busy." 

Brick got a thoughtful look on his face. "Was it something we said?" Butch shrugged in reply. 

"Fuck knows. Coulda been a dodgy lunch. What? What'd I say?" Both girls were glaring at Butch. 

"Dude, their sister just bit the dust." A look of realization dawning on Brick spread across his face in an instant. "You and Brick could show some sympathy for the situation." 

Bubbles suddenly hugged him, tears welling up in her eyes. 

"Thanks, Boomer", she managed to choke out between sniffles. "I'm glad at least one of you understands." 

"Yeah well, Butch can be a little insensitive at times." 

"Huh? All I...I was just trying to lighten up the moment a bit, OK? You know, break the tension?" 

Everyone just stared at him. 

"Doesn't want to be broken, dude." 

"Yeah, thanks Boomer. Already got the memo." 

"Then again, we came back to life" pointed out Brick. "Maybe Buttercup will too." 

Bubbles, whose sniffling against Boomer's shoulder had by now turned into a full-blown tsunami, somehow said, through the flood of tears, "You really think she might?" 

"Anything's possible. I think we proved that," replied Brick. 

"Yeah," added Boomer, rubbing his hand over Bubbles' back to help calm her, "your sister's got a lot of spunk. Little thing like death? - Not gonna be a problem." 

"They're right Bubbles. BC will find a way to come back to us." Blossom squeezed her "little" sister's hand as a sign of comfort, for both of them. "If anyone can do it, she can." 

* * *

"The idiots made her invisible", muttered Sutekh to himself, as he slowly paced the floor of an old, abandoned factory, somewhere in downtown Townsville. 

Never mind. I'll just have to modify the next steps in my plan." A thin smile slowly formed on his pale face. "And it mean I can play with her some more before her inevitable demise." 

A throne formed behind him, and he sat down on it. 

"But first things first; if this has to be my base of operations in Townsville, then it should befit a person of my stature." He waved a hand once, and everything around him changed. The dilapidated factory still looked the same from the outside, but whereas before the building has no interior decorations, equipment, or - even for the most part - walls, it was now fully set out as a Pharaoh's palace. 

The walls were made out of what appeared to be sandstone, and had what seemed to be hieroglyphs carved into the giant blocks. Tapestries further adorned the walls, with a particularly large tapestry, depicting some great battle, hanging directly behind Sutekh's new throne. 

A giant woven rug covered about a quarter of all the floor-space immediately in front of the rather imposing - and jewel-laden - throne, and scattered around the edge of the rug were many potted plants, including a wide variety of ferns. 

Sutekh relaxed back onto his throne and admired his newly created palatial surroundings, before turning his thoughts back to more pressing matters. 

"Now, what to do about that little green super-girl..."

* * *

Meanwhile, that "little green super-girl" had just arrived back home. 

"Well, being a ghost is gonna take some getting used to...but I still don't understand what happened with that tanker. Perhaps the Professor will have some of the answers...if he can hear me..." 

Since Buttercup could still touch and hold objects, she should have figured it probably wasn't too good an idea to try to move through walls. 

"Ow! Goddamit, that was painful", she muttered under her breath, as she peeled her nose of the outside wall. 

As she made her way around the outside of the house to the front door, she saw her sister and the boys through one of the lounge windows, although the scene looked disturbingly subdued. Everyone was sitting around as though they were spending a relaxing afternoon watching TV, but it was obvious, even from where Buttercup was floating, that this was not the case. 

Blossom and Brick were seated on each arm of the 3-seater sofa, staring at the blank TV, and occasionally glancing down at their blue siblings. Bubbles was curled up tightly into a ball whilst leaning on Boomer's shoulder and crying, while he just stroked her hair in a repetitive and soothing motion. 

None of them dared to even glance in Butch's direction. He merely floated near the ceiling, looking at nothing in particular, but staring straight at the light bulb. 

Shuddering involuntarily at the lifelessness of the scene displayed in front of her, Buttercup quickly flew down to the front door and then stopped. 

"Wait a minute, what am I going to say? 'Hi everyone, I'm dead, but you already knew that?'" Then her face brightened. "Ah, I'm sure I'll come up with something. And the looks on their faces...it'll be priceless." That said, she grabbed the door handle and turned it. As she did, an odd tingling sensation passed up the length of her arm. 

"Huh. Must've forgotten to close the door properly." Said Blossom, listlessly. She got up to close the door, but bumped into something as she floated towards it. 

"Pardon me..." 

"That's OK, Bloss, it's not like you can see me." 

At the sound of Buttercup's voice, everyone looked up to see Blossom floating about 5 feet in front of a door that was, apparently, closing itself. 

"BC, is that you?"

"Yeah Bloss, it's me." 

"But we thought you were..."

"Dead? Well, I think I must be. I mean, you can't see me..." 

"But we can hear you, and I just flew straight into you, so you can't be a ghost." 

"And anyway, ghosts don't exist", added Boomer. The girls all looked at him questioningly, though in Buttercup's case, it didn't have much of an effect. 

"So what? I'm invisible? I thought that was impossible." 

"Obviously not so. Let's get the Prof. I think he's in the lab." 

"Well, what are we waiting for? I wanna be visible again." 

* * *

The Professor was busy working on a machine that would, if his theories were correct, allow him to communicate with the deceased, when suddenly there was a thunderous knocking at his laboratory door. Luckily it, along with most of the house, was reinforced to withstand even 3 hyperactive Powerpuffs. Unfortunately, it couldn't withstand 6. 

It burst open with a resounding "CLANG!" and large dent dead centre. 

"Girls, what have I told you about not bursting in here when I'm..."

"Dad, it's me, Buttercup!" The Professor felt a large weight suddenly wrap tightly round his neck. 

"...Can't...bre-athe...."

Buttercup apologized as she let go of him. "Buttercup, is it really you?" 

"Yeah Dad, I'm not dead. Just...invisible." 

"Well, that's not possible." The five visible kids looked totally perplexed at this remark. "Well, allow me to explain." 

* * *

**Warning: Unnecessary Photonics lecture here**

* * *

"You see", began the Professor, pulling a white-board out of the ceiling, "for an object to be invisible, light has to either be diffracted around it, or completely absorbed by it." 

"In the first instance - diffraction - light rays that are parallel will, after being diffracted around the object, either meet at a focal point or splay apart, thus creating a lensing similar to the event horizon of a quantum singularity." 

"Huh?" 

"That's a black hole, Butch", interrupted Blossom. 

"Oh, right." 

"And in the second case - absorption - no light is reflected back to the observer, and so the object appears totally black, sort of like a three-dimensional 'shadow'. This is somewhat akin to the "black hole" itself, although that is caused by strong gravimetric forces, whereas the cause here would be something entirely different; there isn't enough mass present." 

"The only other case for invisibility - or rather near-invisibility, is if the object is super-transparent, like air. Almost all of the light rays are unaffected by the object and pass through it as though it wasn't there, and so few are actually reflected back to the observer that the image is too faint to perceive, though it is still present." 

"So she's not really invisible, just very...transparent?"

"Exactly, Boomer." 

* * *

**Here endeth the Physics lesson :-P**

* * *

"So, can you..." Brick began, as the hotline buzzed upstairs and Blossom shot off to answer it. 

"Super Squad hotline, what's the problem Mayor?"

"...Do anything to make BC visible again, Prof?" 

"What? Pokey Oaks kindergarten is under attack? Yes, we'll be right on it, Mayor", Blossom said down the phone. Turning to the lab door, she shouted, "Looks like this'll have to wait till we get back, Dad." 

"Buttercup, stay here." 

"Aw, but Da-a-ad!

"No buts, young lady", the Professor said sternly, "I'm sure it won't need all six of you to be there anyway. And I need to some tests on you to find out what caused your super-transparency before I can begin reversing it." 

"Alright", said Brick. "We'll see you two later..." 

"...Hopefully!" 

"Haha, Butch. Everyone's a comedian..." could be heard from Boomer as the five super-powered children took off through a lounge window. The Professor was already too busy to notice it hadn't been open beforehand. 

* * *

"OK folks, let's split up and try to determine the source of the..."

At that moment Blossom, along with the others, noticed a familiar type of sight. The monkey bars, which were usually cemented deep into the blacktop, were instead floating about 10 feet up next to the roof of the single-storey kindergarten, in exactly the same way bricks don't. Suddenly, butch had an idea. 

"We gotta even the playing field. I mean, we can only see them when they're doing stuff at the moment." 

"You gotta point dude. Hang on, the Prof said they're see-through, right?" asked Boomer. 

"Yeah, I think we all understood that much of what he was saying", said Brick, sarcastically. 

"So let's make 'em unsee-through." Everyone just stared at Boomer as if he'd grown a second head and named it Qazux (A/N pronounced "Kay-zuks"). Then the penny dropped. 

"Paint! We could cover'em in paint!" screeched Bubbles, at a volume that made Butch visibly wince. 

"To the paint stores, everybody. Grab as much as you can." 

The ogres, upon hearing this, decided to stop playing around and started ripping and smashing everything to pieces. Including the already dead body of the janitor - the only person in the building when it was attacked, who had been trampled to an untimely death. 

* * *

"Ah, my plan is working perfectly. Those ogres can get it right, when they put their minds to it." 

Sutekh was sitting on his throne, watching the chaotic scene currently unfolding at Pokey Oaks kindergarten. The image was being displayed as though on a giant TV screen, yet no screen was present, and nothing was projecting the image. It merely hovered in mid-air, being summoned by Sutekh's cast mental powers. 

"Now for the next part of the plan." The image shifted to reveal the Professor hard at work in his laboratory; setting up equipment he hoped would help him to understand his tomboy daughter's current condition. 

* * *

"So, what's the order of the day? Blood tests? DNA samples?" 

"Unfortunately Buttercup, as you are, to all intents and purposes, invisible, they would tell me nothing. However, all is not lost; we can try and ECG, EEG, and if all else fails, mass spectrometry might prove useful."

Just then, a small metal spatula floated up off the workbench before embedding itself into the opposite wall. "Buttercup, please be careful. You could've had my eye out." 

"Sorry Dad, but when I picked it up I got, like, an electric shock from it." At these words, the Professor got a thoughtful look on his face. 

"Is this the first time something like this has happened?" 

"No", she blew on her obviously still-stinging hand. "It happened when I grabbed the front door handle earlier...and that's made out of metal too. Only..."

"Yes?"

"It wasn't as strong then." As she finished speaking, a small crackle of electricity arced from her hand to a pair of tongs, lying nearby on the workbench. 

"Well, it's obviously not a residual charge from whatever made you transparent. It seems almost as though you're...generating an electrical charge. It could be..."

But Buttercup didn't hear what the Professor was saying, as another voice appeared in her head, drowning out everything else. It was calling her name. 

_"Buttercup...you will go to sleep now, Buttercup."_

"Who are you?"

"I am your arch-nemesis, Sutekh. And I am taking control of your body." 

"Like hell you are!"

"Poor child, you do not yet comprehend the extent of my powers. Sleep, Buttercup." 

"Yeah, like that'll w....zzzzz" 

"So you see Buttercup, it is possible that this is the manifestation of your unique power", finished the Professor. He looked over in the direction of his daughter. "Are you listening, honey?" 

"What? Of course I am, father", replied Buttercup. He couldn't see the sneer forming on her face, but he picked up on what she had said. 

_Father? That a bit formal, even for her. I wonder if..._

The Professor fell to the ground unconscious, as another arc of electricity, much bigger than the last, shot from Buttercup's hand to strike him in the chest. 

_That was too easy,_ thought Sutekh, _even without my other powers. Now that's the best way to get at the foundations of this miserable excuse for a house?_

Anyone watching would have seen a hole forming quite rapidly in the middle of the laboratory floor, and then a tunnel beginning to extend from the bottom end of this hole. However, there was no-one to see this as the Professor lay on the ground, with a large welt forming on the back of his head. 

For the next few minutes the only activity was Sutekh, in Buttercup's body, tunnelling back and forth underneath the house, causing it to shake and, eventually, to collapse. 

When that began to happen, she tunnelled up to the surface and shot out, as if from a cannon, to land among the rubble, silent and unmoving, just like her creator, still crackling with electrical energy. 

* * *

"Er guys, this is the right address, isn't it?"

"Yes Butch, I think we know where our house is." 

"Well, I'm only asking, seeing as there's a big pile o'crap where the house should be." 

"SHIT! I knew that attack was a decoy. Those ogres gave in way too easily - and who would attack a kindergarten, anyway?" 

"The Professor and Buttercup! We've got to rescue them! They could be hurt!" 

All five of them flew down and began tossing pieces of rubble aside as if they were no more than pillows. 

"Hey, I think I've found the Prof!" yelled Boomer suddenly. "And he's alright!" 

"My hero!" Bubbles hugged Boomer tight. "I don't know what we'd do if anything happened to the Professor." So saying, she gave Boomer a big thank-you kiss, right on the lips, without so much as a second thought. Rather than screaming in pain and exploding, he merely blushed about a dozen shades of red. 

"Ungh...what happened?" 

"We were hoping you could tell us that Dad", said Blossom, indicating the debris surrounding them. 

"I don't know...I think I was hit by something...lightning maybe." He muttered the last past as he looked at the scorched lab coat he was still wearing. 

"Er...that'll be me, Dad. Sorry", said a vague Buttercup shape covered in layers of dust. "Some guy called Sutekh hijacked my body and blasted you to la-la land." 

The Professor shook his head to clear it. "Did you say Sutekh?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"He's not just some guy, he's a god. And if he's after us, then we're screwed." 

There was a single, synchronised "Oh" from everybody present. 

* * *

"Hmm, it seems I have underestimated the Utonium family. The Professor is a very resilient man, and those children of his aren't as dumb as they at first appear. Perhaps next time, I should attend to Professor Jonathon Utonium personally..."

Sutekh relaxed back in his throne, as he still had more than enough time left to complete his plan. A few moments later, he vanished back to his celestial prison in a swirling vortex of lights. 

* * *

One week later...

"It was nice of the Mayor to put us up in this hotel", said Blossom, as she walked back to the room that the girls were sharing. 

"After everything we've done for Townsville, it's the least they could do", stated Bubbles. "Is Buttercup getting any better?"

Blossom shrugged. "The doctors said that it was delayed concussion. And you know we have to keep our distance, Bubbles. The next electric shock could be lethal."

As they entered their bedroom, they saw the Professor reading the USA Today, with a front-page headline reading "WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Britney Spears to wed King William of England - Full Story on pages 3 thru 12" and, in much smaller letters in the corner - "Asteroid supposedly heading for Earth: Scientists say it is the size of U.S." (A/N for a copy of the front page, go to my site)

Blossom looked to her left just in time to see a dress, surrounded by so many electrical arcs that it almost looked a kind of cocoon, leap towards her. 

"No, Buttercup! Don't hug me, please!" 

"OK", meekly sniffled a very different Buttercup from the one they knew. "I just wanted to hug you because I love you. You know that, right? That I love you?" 

"Yes BC, I know that." Then she whispered to Bubbles, "Yeesh, I hope she snaps out of this soon. And talking of love, how are you and Boomer after that kiss?"

The Professor glanced up at the sudden change in topic and just shook his head before returning to his paper. 

* * *

"Everyone has secrets that they keep for one reason or another, Mr. Quackers. And when that family's are all revealed, it will SPLIT THEM APART!" Him cackled dementedly to Himself, while taking a long, relaxing bath. 

* * *

To be continued... 

**A/N Happy now, ButterButch? :-D I never was going to kill her off - she's my favourite puff too!**


	10. Letting Go

Before passing judgement on me, please read through the whole chapter. I would like to point out a few things; firstly, things are not necessarily as they may seem at the beginning of the chapter; secondly, there will be a graphic death scene in the course of this chapter (I hope); thirdly, this is not ripped off from "Death of a Powerpuff Girl" by Old Fogey, which can be read at the Pokey Oaks Library, or any other fics where main characters die/are killed; lastly, I would like to advertise my own PPG fanfic site, the Farmsville Parish Library, and wish to ask if anyone would like to submit their fanfics to my site - I especially aim that at anyone who has written (or would like to write) lemons. 

Wow - that was a long author's note, wasn't it? And now, on to the 

Disclaimer: see chapter 1. 

Additional disclaimer: I also do not own any of the following films/TV programmes for which I have created fictional sequels mentioned in this fanfiction: "Spy Kids", "Spiderman", "Harry Potter", "Star Trek", "The Simpsons", "The Terminator", and "2061: Odyssey Three". 

**

The Super Squad Chronicles

**

By Gregory Cooper 6 - Letting Go 

* * *

* * *

Him was pacing around in the living chambers of his home on Earth. He had had a brilliant idea for breaking up the Powerpuff Girls once and for all, and had immediately gone to his dear friend, Mr. Quackers, for advice on how to proceed with this new plan. 

That had been almost two weeks ago; he was still thrashing out the finer points of his latest piece of deviousness. After all, just because he was evil, it did not give Him an excuse to be sloppy in his work. 

"So, once more from the top", he muttered, both to himself and Mr. Quackers, absent-mindedly squeezing the little yellow plastic duck. "Curse...telepathy...deepest, darkest secrets...they either split up, which will make them so much more vulnerable to attack, or they will go at each other's throats, which would make my work even easier!" The duck, just being made of plastic, stared implacably back at him. 

"Yes! It'll work! This plan is foolproof", he squealed, still using his high, feminine voice. Then he switched to a booming bass pitch instead, as he got caught up in his own hyperbole. "I do believe I have finally found the perfect plan to drive those meddlesome children apart and into my waiting claws! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! 

* * *

Meanwhile, in Pokey Oaks cemetery, it seemed as though most of the citizens of Townsville had gathered for a sad, but nonetheless truly memorable, occasion. 

Among the people attending this special service were members from far and wide across the city, and from all walks of life. The Mayor, being a man of few inches was one of those standing nearest to the burial pit, wondering where his pickle jar was; his lovely but eternally exasperated assistant, Ms. Keane, was standing next to him, alternately wiping floods of tears from her eyes, and trying to keep the Mayor quiet, which was no mean feat under the circumstances. 

On the Mayor's other side stood the graceful and always composed Sara Bellum, Principal of the Utonium Academy for Young Adults. She, too, was busy wiping her eyes, for not only was she worried about the effect that the death of someone would have on all those close to them, but also the effect that it would have on the whole city for such a prominent townsperson to be killed in such a manner as this. 

Next were Robyn and her parents; Mr. and Mrs. Snyder didn't really know that many people in Townsville - they were always kept too busy with business trips or social functions in and around the city of Snobsville in the next state, that they had never really taken the time to get to know anyone where they now lived, not even most of Robyn's friends. Robyn, on the hand, had been close to the entire Utonium family - they were almost like her second family after being friends with the girls for the last 6 years or so - and so this death had had what could only be described as a shocking effect on her. 

She had steadfastly refused to talk to a counsellor about her feelings since the incident, which had been fortunate not to have witnessed personally, even though her parents, her teachers, and the school bereavement officer had all told her time and again that she should talk to a qualified professional. _Yeah, and what would a "Qualified Professional" know about what I'm feeling? Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup have been like the sisters I always wanted! _

Then, surprisingly, came most of Townsville's most notorious villains. Sedusa, with her long tendril-like hair consisting of snakes, had her head bowed and her drooping in honour of her ex-husband (she may have been running a scam at the time, but he HAD been a proper gentlemen to her, unlike most, and she respected that). Femme Fatale, for similar reasons, had sent her regards to the Utoniums even though she was busy fighting for equal rights for women in New York. 

Mojo Jojo was obviously unable to attend, as he had last been seen vanishing into a time tunnel that closed with him still in it. He was officially declared missing, presumed dead. 

Then came the Gangrene Gang, minus Ace, who had come to pay their last respects because they Ace was busy ripping off the K-Mart a couple of blocks away, and they were hoping they could use their being at the funeral service as an alibi for Ace as well as themselves. 

Even Princess Morebucks had decided to turn up for this special occasion; over the years, she had blossomed into a beautiful, intelligent young girl and had even started up her own computer business in an attempt to gain power over others by using the law to her advantage instead of going against it like she had done previously. The company was called QuantumTech, had an annual income of over $60 billion dollars, and had only 6 months earlier begun the process of buying out the now self-destructing Microsoft Corporation (which is very impressive for a 12-year-old). However, she still had a chip on her shoulder the size of New York about being turned down by the Powerpuffs as a fourth member; she admired the Professor's technical expertise though. 

Fuzzy Lumpkins had turned up because it had mentioned free food on the invitation. Unfortunately, a few years back, he had accidentally used his patented meat-gun on himself, and now only had his left arm down to the elbow joint. On the up side, he could still play 'Jo, his trusty old banjo; on the down side (for him at least), he could no longer work his new gun, an MP5 he'd traded for his antique shotgun. Which meant the rabbit population was booming for the first time in decades. 

The Amoeba Boys hadn't turned up; Bossman had undergone cell division earlier that day, and was in hospital with his new son. His two sidekicks were still lost in the hospital parking lot. 

Him was conspicuous by his absence. 

Last and most importantly, 5 of the 6 members of the Super Squad were seen hovering just to the side of the minister, their heads bowed, and eyes close; Boomer had his arms around Bubbles' shoulder and was trying to console her, while she was wracked with dry sobs; Butch and Blossom floated on either side of them, next to their respective sibling; and Brick had doffed his baseball cap as a sign of respect. 

Finally, the minister was informed that all guests who were attending had arrived. He cleared his throat before beginning to read the order of service from the Common Book of Prayer. 

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of God, to commemorate the life of one of this town's most loved and respected citizens. I am, of course, talking about...." 

* * *

"So, what are we all gonna for our last day before starting school?" asked Brick, through a mouthful of toothpaste, at some ungodly-early hour one Saturday. 

"We-ell," said Blossom, "us girls have a parade to go to today, and technically..." 

"Parade?" 

"Yeah Boomer, there's a parade held in Townsville every year" said Bubbles, as she made herself some waffles, "to celebrate us being created." Suddenly, she noticed smoke coming out from the waffle iron. Blossom zipped across the kitchen as fast as she could, and just barely managed to prevent Bubbles' breakfast turning into Waffle Flambé, before taking up where Bubbles had left off. 

"And to celebrate all the times that we've saved the day here in Townsville." 

"Oh right. Cool." Brick poured himself out some cereal, and started munching on it. "How many times have you saved the day, anyway?" 

"Dunno..." At that moment, Professor Utonium came down the stairs, wearing a very smart suit and tie for the Powerpuff Day celebrations. 

"Morning girls, boys...where's Buttercup?" 

"Err, I think she's still upstairs getting dressed, Dad" said Bubbles, through a mouthful of burnt waffle. 

"What?!? You think you've saved the day THAT many times?" said Boomer. Brick's jaw dropped. Butch slammed his head into a nearby cupboard by accident. And Buttercup chose that moment to appear downstairs. 

When I say "appear", I do of course mean that her dress and shoes appeared, floating above the staircase of their own accord. They made their way down to join everyone else in the kitchen, and sat down at an available chair. 

"Mornin' everyone," Buttercup mumbled to all present. 

"And how's your head this morning, young lady?" asked the Professor. 

"OK, I guess", she said, rubbing a small - invisible - lump on the back of her neck. "Though I still don't know why Bubbles had to hit me so hard in the first place." 

"I told you, BC" Bubbles said, ashamedly, "you were...out of it, from the roof collapsing on your head. Someone had to knock some sense back into you somehow." 

"Yeah, but that was still no excuse for lobbing a bowling ball at my head, bubble-brain." The Professor put a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Buttercup. "And are ya absolutely sure that there's no way to make me visible again, Pro....OW!" A small arc of electricity shot out from Buttercup fork and hit her in the palm. 

"Still getting stung, eh babe?" 

"Yeah Booger, and don't call me babe again, or I'll shock YOU!" 

"Buttercup, be nice to Butch." At this comment, Butch stuck his tongue out at her. She stuck two fingers up in return, and then concentrated really hard. A fork of lightning arced from her hand and struck the chair Butch was sitting in, leaving a large burn mark there. 

"Yaboo! Missed me!" 

"And you certainly seem to be gaining more control over this new power of yours," the Professor added, with a disdainful glance towards Butch's now burnt chair. "After the parade is over, I'd like to test your gift in the danger grid, to see just how effective it is." 

"Sure dad, but don't we have to be leaving for the parade? It starts at 9." 

"Oh good lord, you're right! Hurry up girls, we're leaving in 5 minutes!" Professor Utonium shouted at all 3 of them while searching for his car keys. 

5 minutes later, they'd left, leaving the boys to finish their breakfast in piece in the newly rebuilt Utonium residence. 

"So, what ARE we gonna do today?" asked Brick. His brothers merely shrugged. 

"Could go and watch this parade for the girls." 

"Nah, I wanna do something more exciting. What about a movie?" asked Boomer. The other two nodded. "Alright, what's on?" he asked no one in particular, as he began scanning the local paper. 

"Spy Kids 4?" 

"Too babyish" said Butch. 

"Spiderman 3: Revenge of the Green Goblin?" 

"Puh-lease. Bringing back dead villains? That's gonna suck." 

"Harry Potter and the Goblet..." 

"Just opened. It'll be packed with 6-year-olds." 

"How about Star Trek XII: Armageddon, then?" 

"Cool!" 

"Sorry, advanced private screening only this week." 

"Aww, dammit!" 

"Simpsons: The Movie?" 

"Maybe, but they'll be hard pushed to stretch a plot to cover an hour and a half." 

"OK, that settles it. There's no way I'm gonna see 2061: Odyssey 3, so it'll have to be Terminator IV then." 

"Excellent. And it starts in half an hour, too. Let's get going!" So they left a note on the kitchen table, saying where'd they gone, and headed off to the cinema for 2 hours of death and destruction. 

* * *

The parade had been going for 2 hours already and had, fortunately for all it's participants and spectators, stopped for a 10 min break. The Professor was enjoying this time with his girls, in the relative quietude of a nearby No-Name's Burger Bar (A/N I told you the No-Name company would show up again eventually!" :-P). 

"Girls, I know this isn't how you'd liked to spend the last-but-one day of your vacation, but it IS in your honour, after all." 

"We know, dad, and it's not like we don't appreciate it." Blossom replied between sips of her cola. 

"Yeah, but do they have to make it so darn long every year?" added Bubbles, which drew a snort of laughter from Buttercup. 

"Never mind long, the worst part is when the Mayor makes a speech. His first sentence last year was 'Welcome, Farmsville!'" 

"I don't know how Ms. Keane puts up with him, I really don't" added the Professor, and took a big bite out of his deluxe burger. 

Suddenly, a man appeared out of the nearby gent's toilets. Normally, this would go almost unnoticed in a restaurant, and it did this time too. Following him out though, was a man wearing a smart black and white pin-stripe suit and a black fedora, who had not entered the loos previously. It was Sutekh. 

He walked straight up to the Utonium family' cubicle, and said "Greetings. I wonder if I could talk to you in private for a moment, Professor Utonium?" 

"Of course, err..." 

"O, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me. My name is Seth." 

"Well Seth, what would you like to talk about?" 

Taking hold of the Professor's arm, he said "your imminent demise." He'd been keeping a careful eye on both girls' the whole time, in case either of them tried to launch a surprise attack on him. Unluckily for him, he'd forgotten about Buttercup's invisibility, and back straight into a lime green dress suspended in mid-air. 

"Going somewhere, Mr. SUTEKH?" 

"What?! Blast, I'd forgotten about you. Here, I'll be kind enough to make you visible again." And with those words, Buttercup became once again visible. "That'll make it easier for me to keep my eye on all three of you in future." 

While Buttercup and her sisters were overjoyed at Buttercup's sudden re-appearance in the middle of the busy restaurant, Sutekh, with Professor Utonium in tow, had simply vanished into thin air. 

* * *

He reappeared, still tightly gripping Professor Utonium's arm, in the royal palace that he'd recently created for himself in DownTownsville. 

"Now, time to pay them a call..." 

* * *

Meanwhile, at the burger bar, the three girls were rather discombobulated to find that their father had mysteriously vanished, along with their latest, and seemingly most powerful foe. Suddenly, a squeaky voice that belonged to one of the many high school students who worked in the place piped up, snapping all three of them out of their individual thoughts. 

"Call for the Powerpuff Girls! Says his name's....Sue-tech?" 

Blossom rushed to the phone so fast that several meals went flying and landed SPLAT! on the rather questionably clean floor tiles. "Hello? Sutekh? What have you done with our dad?" 

Her sisters floated up behind her to better listen in on the conversation. "Downtown? The abandoned Ford factory? Yeah, we know the place, we'll be right there." She hung up and turned to face an equally anxious Bubbles and Buttercup. "Well, you heard that, so let's head out!" 

"That'll be 18 dollars and..." the squeaky-voiced teen said to the girls' afterimages. "Bother! That's gonna come out of my wages." 

* * *

"So, why'd he take dad only to tell us where he'd gone to?" asked Buttercup, as they flew through the air. 

"The only thing I can think of is that he wanted a face-off on his terms, so he picked what he thought would make a more suitable arena than a fast food joint," answered Bubbles. "What? I can't have the occasional brainwave, too?" 

"Never mind." There's our factory now!" pointed out Buttercup, and the three girls dove towards it, crashing straight in through the roof as usual. 

"Where are we......?" asked Bubbles, when she could clearly see their surroundings. 

"If I'm not mistaken, this looks like an....Egyptian Palace?" said Blossom, confused. 

"Correct. And really girls, did you have to come in through the roof?" boomed a voice from the far end of the giant hall. 

"What can I say? We like to make an entrance," shot back Bubbles, sticking her tongue out at the approaching shadow of Sutekh. 

"How glib. Not that it matters." As the girls all looked up at the hole they'd made in the roof only a minute before, it began to seal itself, much like a cut would heal over time. 

"Girls," began Blossom, "I think we might be in over depth here." 

"No, you don't say," said Buttercup. Her usual caustic wit was back, and on top form too. 

"Give us back our daddy," said Bubbles. "We don't want to have to fight you for him." 

"And I don't want to fight you either. Yet." 

"Oh goody! So you'll give him back then?" 

"No Bubbles, I won't." As the girls made to fly at him and begin attacking, he added, "And you won't be able to fight me anyway, seeing as you are now immobile." And indeed, they were. All three were suspended 3 feet above the ground, totally motionless; they tried to use their eye lasers and other attacks, but found that they too had been disabled. 

"What do you want with us?" yelled Buttercup. 

"The answer to that, Buttercup, is quite simple." The Professor appeared, kneeling, in front of Sutekh. He had not apparently been harmed in any way, and yet looked nonetheless defeated. "I wish to make you suffer." 

"How?" Blossom asked, apprehensively. 

"By forcing you to watch your creator die." 

"Wrong again, pal. You can stop us from saving him, but you can't make us watch." Blossom nodded to her sisters (all three could still move their heads freely, hence being able to talk as well), and they all closed their eyes. 

"Actually, I can." Each girl's eyes opened again, as if of their own accord. "Now, how to kill the illustrious Professor Johnathan Utonium...tell me, Professor, what is the maximum temperature the human body can withstand?" 

"Well," began the Professor, taking off his glasses and cleaning them slowly, "some biologists believe that it may be able to function in temperatures as high as 50ºC for extended periods, or even up to 120ºC in the very short term....why do you ask?" he said, loosening his tie and collar slightly. 

"Are you feeling....warm yet, Professor?" Sutekh said, a small, thin-lipped smile forming on his cold features. 

"Now you come to mention it...yes, I am feeling a bit warm. Must be the lack of ventilation in here." He took of his jacket and tie, and started undoing the buttons of his shirt. 

"Professor, he's gonna burn you up! Run!" screeched Blossom at the top of her lungs. A look of horror came over his expression as he realized the gruesome fate he was about to experience, and simultaneously found that his feet seemed to be fixed to the spot, as though he had turned into a tree, and planted roots in the floor. 

"Right now, Professor, you are feeling a temperature in excess of 75º. You will reach the point of total dehydration in about another 2 minutes, and will then die. However, I'm feeling merciful..." 

"Yeah, right" said Buttercup out of the corner of her mouth. 

"So, I'll make your death quicker than that. Unfortunately for you, it will also be far more painful. 

The Professor's head was swimming from the intense heat he was being subjected to, and it was becoming difficult to focus on what he was seeing and hearing. He tried to cry out from the pain, but his throat was too dry to allow little more than a harsh rattling sound. He lost his balance and fell facedown on the ground. 

"This whole situation is too...sombre for my liking. I think some laughter is in order." 

"Laughter? At a time like this?" asked Blossom, astounded by this man's cold-heartedness. 

"Yes, laughter at a time such as this. You three will laugh now," he said, dismissively. 

"You can't make us..." 

"It seems you need to be constantly reminded Blossom. I can make you do anything I want." 

"So how are you gonna....make us...hehe...laugh?" spluttered Buttercup, striving to keep a straight face. 

"Easy. I will something to happen, and it happens." 

"So, why....hehe...don't....hahaha....you just....****giggle****....think thehehehe Professor dehehehead?" Blossom gasped out, in between involuntary giggles. 

"Blossom! Don't hahahaha give hihihihihim ideas. HAHAhahahahaha!!" 

"Actually, a good question, Blossom. You see, I am not a god, in spite of my powers. And only gods have the power to give or take away life. I can merely...force the issue, by causing fatal injuries." 

Bubbles and Blossom had, by now, totally succumbed to the laughter, whereas Buttercup was still fighting to remain in control, in the vain hope of being able to break free and save the Professor. 

Meanwhile, the Professor wasn't feeling so well. Sweat was literally pouring off of him, and his clothes were distinctly singed around the edges. There was a loud ringing sound in his ears, as a result of the pain overload Sutekh was forcing him into. He did not even have enough strength left to lift his head up and witness the torture that his girls were being subjected to. 

"Your body temperature, Professor" said Sutekh, just as calmly as before, "is now passing 140º, and you should be feeling as though your blood is beginning to boil in your veins. That is because it is boiling. Your skin is beginning to shrivel up from lack of moisture, and some of your smaller blood vessels should be starting to burst under the internal pressure." 

The Professor's face had become dried and slightly shrunken, and he had finally stopped sweating, but only because there was no water left in his body to sweat out. Large bruises were forming all over his body, as blood vessels erupted underneath, one by one. His once jet-black hair had been singed grey all over, and finally ignited, along with what remained of his clothing. 

"Aaaaaaaaaaaargggghh! Help me!!!" 

"Wehehehehehe're sorryheheheheee Profess....Professor.....hahahahahahaHAHAHAHAhahahaha....we can't help you hahahahahahahahahat the moment. Heeheeheeheeheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!.......EEEEEeeeeeeeeeeehehehehehahahahahehehe........" Blossom managed to just barely make out through a fit of uncontrollable giggling. 

"Now you are at 200º, and fast approaching the body's flashpoint. Any moment now, the vapour left in your blood vessels will ignite, and you will simply explode. 

The Professor's screams were by now almost deafening, even to the three still-immobilised puffs who could not stop laughing; Buttercup had finally surrendered to it as well. The Professor looked less like a human now, and more like a giant raisin with what could be arms and legs. Then, there were a series of small, muffled explosions, and what had, up till then, been his body, was flung in all directions. The still burning pieces of flesh, muscle, and various other types of bodily tissues made some loud SPLAT! Sounds as they hit the sides of the massive chamber, and as the roar of the explosion quickly died down, all that was left was some bone fragment, which turned to dust as they, too, hit the ground. 

The girls were still all laughing their heads off, as Sutekh had not yet freed them from this. 

"Hahahahahahaha..........***giggle***......heheheheheeeeeeeeeEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeehahahahahaha..........please.........hahahahaha.....stoppit!! Plehehehehehease, we can't take much more hohohohohohoho......" giggled Bubbles, almost incoherently. 

Sutekh decided to relent, for now, and let their laughter slowly fade away, until all that could be heard was violent gasping for breath from all three of them. Then the image of their surroundings faded back into that of their own home, and they gratefully collapsed. 

* * *

That was the last thing they remembered from that terrible afternoon, one week ago to the day. For the last week, they had all, and without question or argument between them or with anyone else, been living with Mr. and Mrs. Snyder and with Robyn. 

When the boys had been told of what had happened after that Saturday's breakfast, they had tried to comfort their counterparts, with varying degrees of success. Bubbles had turned to Boomer for love and support, Buttercup had continually lashed out at Butch every time he, or one of his brothers (but mostly Butch), tried to go near her, and Blossom had just shut herself away from all the others, only ever coming out of the room that the four girls (Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup and Robyn) were sharing in order to answer the Super Squad hotline, which had been moved to the Snyder's house especially. Brick, meanwhile, had spent a lot of time comforting Robyn, who did appreciate it; her own parents were too busy with their careers to notice any problems she may have. 

"...and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our brother, Johnathan Utonium; and we commit his body to the ground; earth to earth; ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord blesses him and keeps him, the Lord makes his face to shine upon him, and be gracious unto him, and give him peace. Amen." Finished the minister. 

As the congregation began to file out of the cemetery, the Mayor and Ms. Keane approached the members of the Super Squad who were present. 

"Girls, I'm really sorry to have to meet you in such a manner," she began, "and that Buttercup couldn't be here today. How IS she doing against that monster, anyway?" 

"Oh, she probably beat it to a pulp about half an hour ago, Ms. Keane. If I'm right, she'd just venting steam now, probably at it's mangled corpse." 

"Blossom!" 

"What, Bubbles? You know I probably am right, so why argue?" 

"True." 

"Anyway, the Mayor and I are also here in a more official capacity today." 

"Ms. Keane?" 

"As you have no living...relatives, and no-one would be capable of looking after 6 super-powered teenagers, the office of the Mayor of Townsville is hereby granting legal custody of you to...yourselves." 

"What? But we can't earn money - how will we be able to look after ourselves?" 

"Well, Blossom, it appears that over the years, Johnathan amassed quite a fortune from various patents he took out, on all manner of items. You'll be given immediate access to that cash, and it should easily see you through, until you all graduate from high school at least." 

"how much are we talking about?" 

"We don't have all the figures exactly, but at last audit, there was in excess of $50 million." At that, all five kids' jaws dropped. 

During this conversation, Brick had snuck off in search of Robyn. "Hey Robyn, how you doing?" 

"OK, I guess. It's getting easier - I've stopped crying in my sleep at least, according to Buttercup," she said with a small, slightly uneasy grin. 

"Wanna talk about it? We could go and get a soda while we chat. " 

"Sure. But won't the others miss you?" As they walked out of the cemetery, hand in hand, they passed a newspaper stall, selling the USA Today, with the headline "Homo Sapiens to be reclassified as bacteria: Sign peace treaty with all other bacteriological life-forms", and in the corner, in far smaller lettering, "Latest calculations show asteroid "will hit, early next year". 

"Probably. But they've got each other." 

"And I've got you." Robyn smiled. Her first truly happy smile in over a week. 

* * *

"HA HA! The spell is complete! From now on, those accursed Powerpuffs will know all each others deepest secrets!" Him roared through his cavernous home. 

Suddenly, Sutekh appeared in front of him. 

"Who are you? Begone, pathetic mortal," bellowed Him, and spat acid towards Sutekh. The acid flew towards him, but stopped in mid-flight. 

"What sorcery is this?" Him screeched, just before the acid spit flew back in his face, causing him to scream out in agony. 

"I'm going to enjoy this..." said Sutekh, in a low, quiet, but above all, menacing voice. And began beating Him senseless. 

Hours later, Him had been beaten to a bloody pulp all over the carpet. However, he was still alive, and also in great pain. 

"Who...who are...you?" he choked out through a partially crushed oesophagus. 

"My name is Sutekh." 

The look on Him's face said it all. He bowed down to his new master, realising when he was beaten beyond all hope. 

"But you were...killed...four thousand years ago..." 

"No, merely entombed in an asteroid. But that was then, and my power has grown. Now I can leave freely, and as it nears Earth, leaving at will becomes even easier. But I am still tied to it." 

"What do you wish of me, master?" 

"Pathetic worm. I wish you to die. Then, I will begin preparing the ritual to rid me of my tomb forever, and then...the next phase." 

Sutekh threw a giant energy ball at Him, which exploded upon impact, with the force of several million nuclear weapons. Him, and all of Him's caves were destroyed in the process, leaving Sutekh standing, alone, in the middle of the desert, surrounded by pieces of dark red, meat; the remains of Him's rotting, demonic carcass... 

* * *

To be continued... 


	11. Vox e mortuus: Part 1

Oh my god - it's been so long since I updated this; over a year and half, actually. And since I posted the very first chapter of it on FFNet, **3 years** have passed. I am so eternally sorry to everyone who was awaiting the next chapter all this time and who have probably by now forgotten everything that has gone previously. All I can do is apologise, I'm crap at sticking to schedules. :( The harder I try, the worse it gets...

Also, a big sorry in advance to anyone who learns any calculus from this chapter - that was not my intention.

And now, before we (finally! LOL) start chapter 11, please take note of the

Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

**

**

The Chemical X Chronicles

By Gregory Cooper

7 - Vox e mortuus - Part 1

* * *

It was a little over a week after the Professor's funeral, and the Utonium Academy was at last re-opened, fully rebuilt and refurbished by Townsville's finest, who had all turned out to honour the Professor's memory. As the school had a long waiting list of children wanting to enrol there, there was absolutely no difficulty in filling the spaces left available by the recent attack. Ms. Keane, on the behalf of the ailing Mayor - who was, after all, 86 and beginning to lose his memory - had issued a press release shortly before the Professor's unfortunate demise that attributed the explosion at the school to a fault in the school's gas supply, there being no evidence to the contrary. 

The Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys left the house on another Monday morning, ready to go back to school. Principal Bellum had suggested that if they did not yet feel up to attending classes, than she would be happy to let them do the set work at home instead, as all the children at school would most likely find the topic of what had recently happened to be a very interesting one, but they had politely declined.

At the same time, Robyn left her house, and ran across both lawns, waving to them.

"Hey, guys!" she called, smiling happily. "So, coming back to school today then?"

"Yep", said Blossom, as a school bus pulled up at the kerb and gave a single loud honking sound. "This is my bus. See you all after break." She walked to the bus, got in and found herself a seat as the school bus pulled away.

Robyn stared after the vehicle until it rounded the corner. "Umm, where's she going?" she asked the remaining five children, as their own bus pulled up to the sidewalk moments later.

"Oh, little miss perfect's been put into High School math classes", said Buttercup, sounding slightly bitter. "Thinks she's so great 'cos she's so much smarter than us."

"No she doesn't Buttercup," objected Bubbles. She turned to Robyn as she said, "and it's only for math, anyway. She still does all her same other classes." Robyn signalled her understanding.

The six friends, being the first on the Middle School's bus' route, chose the seats nearest the back and dropped their bags under their seats as they waited to get to school. Before they realised how fast the time had passed, the bus was full and they had arrived for their first day back. As they arrived at the main gates, the sound of the bell rang through the school grounds, and all the students rushed off the buses, intent on not being late so early in the term.

The boys, having never gone to school before, followed the girls, who they shared homeroom and most of their classes with. They were all entirely unsurprised by the fact that the classroom was empty, although usually the teacher would be the first to arrive, naturally. A few moments after they took seats at the back of the class, the teacher walked in.

"Oh, nobody else here yet?" The man asked. He was apparently in his mid-fifties, with thinning grey hair and a full beard, and was also quite tall being over 6ft. The only thing about him that would distinguish him among a crowd would be cowboy hat he wore on his head.

"No sir", said Bubbles, with a confused expression that the others echoed. This was explained when a large group of unfamiliar students began to enter the classroom and fill up the remaining spaces. Several girls, upon arrival, caught sight of the Rowdyruff Boys for the first time, and immediately got into a huddle and started whispering and giggling to each other, and occasionally sneaking glances at them as well.

"OK ladies, if you could take your seats now, we'll get started. First off, my name is Mister..."

"Excuse me sir," said a boy a couple of years older than the class, "I have a message to pass on as the PA system's still being repaired."

The teacher gave a theatrical sigh. "Fine then, if you could be quick about it, James."

"Thanks". The boy turned to address the class, and began. "Next Friday there's going to be a couples only dance, for the whole school - tickets on sale on the night for $5 each, but only available to boy-girl couples. Any questions?"

"Yeah," said one boy at the front of the class. "Can I bring my girlfriend? She goes to Pokey Oaks Middle School." Several of his fellow students sniggered at this statement, knowing full well that he had never had a girlfriend.

"That's quite alright," said the older boy. "Also, there's not going to be a theme, its strictly formal wear only, okay? I think that's everything; I'll get out of your hair now, sir." And he left for the next classroom, smiling at his own private joke.

The teacher had a distinctly peeved expression at this interruption of his time "Right, now, let's get on with the introductions, shall we?" And he proceeded to introduce all the students to one another (never before had so many children entered a new form mid-year), while the same group of girls chatted about the possibility of asking the Rowdyruff Boys (who they all agreed were hot) to the dance. Butch, however, quickly put a stop to that plan, wanting to go with Buttercup instead.

"Sorry girls, but we're taken." And he put his hand on Buttercup's shoulder (she was sitting in front of him). Buttercup squeezed his hand tightly, so much so that he winced in pain and pulled away.

"Don't - ever - touch me - like that - again - okay?" Buttercup spat through gritted teeth. A couple of the girls gave her dirty looks for treating Butch this way. The teacher's voice rang out over the classroom.

"Could all talk of the dance wait until after school has ended please? It's no reason for you all to become distracted from your class work." The class gave a collective groan, but otherwise didn't complain.

Soon enough, it was time for the first lesson of the day - Bubbles, Butch and Brick and Robyn had double computing, whereas Boomer and Buttercup had double music. Although Buttercup quite liked music in general, she hated this lesson purely on the merit of where it lay on the timetable.

* * *

The first project that the computing teacher, Mr. Rickard, set for the class was in their first week they had to use Dr. Logo to create a program that would draw any given polygon. Most of the class found this work either boring, pointless, or a combination of the above. The rest saw a good opportunity to chat amongst themselves, until Mr. Rickard started handing out detentions to all those caught talking about non work-related topics. Butch and Brick got around this by sending emails to each other across the room. Brick laughed to himself about something, and then typed away again; Bubbles was curious about what they were doing, but didn't dare say anything. 

**So,** wrote Butch, **u gonna ask Robyn 2 the dance?**

**Hell yeah!** replied Brick. **I hope she says yes. What about you and Buttercup? **

**Not looking likely. Of course Robyn will say yes, d00d. U2 make a gr8 couple. **

**Thanks man. **wrote Brick. Then, he wrote an email to Robyn, typing with super speed to do it before Mr. Rickard saw what was happening. **Robyn, would you do me the great honour of accompanying me to the dance? **

When Robyn saw the email arrive, she wondered what could be so urgent that Brick would email her in class. Then she opened the email, read it, and blinked in amazement, before rereading it to make sure it said what she thought it said.

"Psst, Bubbles," Robyn whispered to her best friend, "read this." And she showed the email to Bubbles, who quickly whispered back, "Well what are you waiting for; answer him!"

Less than a minute later, word had already circulated throughout the class about the fact that Robyn Snyder was going to the dance with Brick Jojo; astonishingly, no one got a detention for talking.

* * *

Blossom was in her calculus 101 class, over at Townsville High School, listening intently to the teacher showing them an example of integration. Most of the other students were talking quite loudly, although the teacher didn't care - she was going to teach; whether they listened was up to them. 

"So the integral is equal to the square root of the double integral over the real numbers and theta from nought to two pi of the function r e to the minus r squared d r d theta...."

Blossom's super-hearing seemed to fade out, and when she blinked, a computer screen was blocking her view. And the reflection in the computer's monitor was none other than...

"Brick!" she shouted, bringing the class to a grinding halt. Everyone, including the teacher, just stared at her.

"What did you say, Miss Utonium?"

"Oh, nothing sir."

"Good. Then I'm sure that you can evaluate this integral."

Blossom realised that she hadn't heard the end half of his speech, but it didn't matter. She read the board and stalled for time.

"Umm...well, er.....it's obviously...going to...be...root pi?"

"Very good, Blossom. Try to pay attention better in future though." Blossom just blushed and hid behind her textbook.

* * *

"Are you OK Brick?" Asked Mr. Rickard, worry evident in his features. "You look about ready to pass out." 

Brick shook his head and wondered what had just happened. One moment, he had been at his desk, and then he was in a different classroom, listening to a math class.

"I'm fine sir. Just a slight dizzy spell for a mo'."

"Well, if you're s......ah, Miss Morebucks, so nice of you to join us. Please find yourself a terminal." This last was directed towards another girl who had just entered the room, roughly halfway through the lesson.

Butch got a good look at her from his position, and tried not to stare, but failed. She was short, just a little less than 5 feet tall, but petite too, with long, wavy red hair held back by a glittery golden hair band. She wore a knee-length gold-coloured dress and a pair of golden slippers completed the ensemble.

She moved quickly yet gracefully to the only unoccupied computer in the classroom, right next to Butch's own.

"Hi", she said. "I'm Princess Morebucks. And you are...?" She gave him a brief glance, then did a double take, thinking _Wow, he's hunky. I wonder if he's taken...?" _

"Butch Jojo", he said, extending a hand in greeting. "Lovely to meet you, Princess." _Oh, he's a Rowdyruff Boy. Probably going out with that Buttercup, then. _"You going to the dance with anyone yet?"

The surprise that registered on Princess' face was swiftly replaced with joy. "No. Most people round here don't like me too much, 'cos of my past. So you're not going with Buttercup?"

"No, I just dumped her. She's got waaaay too much ego. So, you want to go with me?"

"Of course! I, er, mean I'd love to", Princess said, happy that finally someone liked her. The two got on with their work for the rest of the lesson after a stern glare from across the classroom courtesy of Mr. Rickard.

* * *

At lunchtime, Blossom entered the cafeteria and saw Bubbles, Brick and Butch heading for a vacant bench, so she headed straight over to them with her packed lunch. 

"Hey guys! Where are the others?" she asked.

"Just coming. They're getting their lunch", said Brick, "and here they are now", he indicated Boomer, Robyn and Buttercup moving towards them. Once everyone was settled, Bubbles turned to Blossom.

"Didja hear Blossom, about the school dance?"

"Of course she wouldn't of, Bubblehead. She was at High School this morning", Buttercup said, spearing a large fry on her plate and shoving it, whole, in her mouth.

"Gross, Buttercup", said Blossom, making a face. "What dance, Bubs?"

"There's a school dance next Friday," Bubbles said between mouthfuls, "for couples only." Then she added, "Boomer and I are going together, aren't we Boom-Boom?"

Buttercup mouthed "Boom-Boom?" to herself behind her hand, while Butch sniggered openly.

"And Brick and I are going together too", piped up Robyn, leaning her head against Brick's shoulder.

"Oh", said Blossom, slightly disappointed. She knew that most, if not all, of the boys in the school didn't like her - not in a date kind of way, anyway. They were afraid of her brains, and so Brick was her only real chance of going to this dance. Then again, she couldn't ruin the night for Robyn, could she? Instead, she brushed it off and turned her mind to happier thoughts. "And what about you and Butch, eh Buttercup?"

The puff in question spat bolognaise sauce from her nose in shock. "Us? Yeah, right. Butch is going with someone else, thank god."

"Oh yeah? Who're you going with, Butch?" asked Bubbles, excited.

"Princess Morebucks", he said, in a completely calm manner, not expecting the reaction that the four girls gave him.

"What?!?" from Buttercup.

"O my god!" from Bubbles. "You can't be serious!" from Blossom. Robyn shrieked in utter disbelief.

In the middle of this scene of sudden confusion, Blossom and Brick found themselves looking at their own faces, as though through the eyes of the other person. Both blinked and rubbed their eyes, to find themselves back behind their own faces again. Neither one felt it would be good to bring this up in front of the others.

"Hey Bloss, at least ya don't haveta worry about being the only one going stag. We can go together!" said Buttercup happily, which did slightly cheer Blossom up. Still, she had always imagined having a proper date at her first formal.

"Well, I gotta be off now, meeting Princess to, umm, talk about colour co-ordinating for the dance", said Butch, hastily eating the rest of his meal in about a minute and then clearing out of the cafeteria before anyone could say anything else to him.

He was walking down the corridor by their homeroom, looking for Princess - she said she'd be there waiting - when suddenly a non-descript door swung quickly open, and a hand shot out, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him into the store cupboard. The door closed just as fast, and all that could be heard from it for the rest of the lunch break were sounds of kissing and the occasional giggle.

* * *

At the end of the day, Principal Bellum packed her briefcase and strode out of building to find the Powerpuff Girls, the Rowdyruff Boys and Robyn waiting for her by her minivan. 

"Ah, so here we are then", she said, slightly awkwardly to the group of young teens. "All ready? Well, let's get this over with then." She ushered the seven of them into the back of the vehicle, got in herself, and drove off towards the Utonium house.

They arrived to find two other cars there already - one was the Mayor's car, and the other an ordinary saloon, which in fact belonged to the Professor's attorney. The Mayor, Ms. Keane, and the attorney in question were all waiting patiently at the door, and the large group entered the house under an uncomfortable silence.

"Would anyone like some tea, or coffee?" Blossom asked, ever the hostess. Everyone declined, wishing to get things done as quickly as possible. The attorney pulled out a small sheaf of papers, cleared his throat, and began reading aloud.

"We are gathered here today," he said, as Robyn took Brick's hand in a comforting gesture, "to bare witness to the last will and testament of Professor Johnathan Isaac Albert Stephen Utonium, born April 4 1962, died November 13 2005. All instructions will be carried out, including legal emancipation of the Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys, who are granted full access to their inheritance within the boundaries set by Professor Utonium's chief executor of his will, Miss Sara Bellum." The children smiled gratefully at the Principal, and waited for the attorney to continue.

"My daughters Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup Utonium to each own one-third of the property rights to my house, 2001, Odyssey Lane, Townsville."

"All of my inventions, and all other science paraphenalia in my laboratory, shall be left to my daughter Blossom Utonium."

"Both of my mother's paintings, as well as all of my mother's jewellry, shall be left to my daughter Bubbles Utonium."

"All of my sports equipment, as well as my collection of sports magazines and memorabilia, shall be left to my daughter Buttercup Utonium."

"To my daughters' dear friend Robyn Snyder, I leave my Superman comic book collection, as I know she has enjoyed reading and rereading it over the years." Robyn almost cried at this inclusion of herself, an outsider, in this kind and generous man's will.

"All of the magazines in my laboratory vault are left to Brick, Boomer, and Butch Jojo. The lock is keyed to recognise only their retina scans." The girls gave the boys a fish-eyed sideways glance at this statement.

"My trustees shall hold what is left of my estate on trust to sell it or retain it and pay all my heretofore outstanding debts, my funeral expenses, and any Inheritance Tax. After meeting these expenses, pay the residue of my estate to the following: To my daughters Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup Utonium, 25 share each. To my legal wards Brick, Boomer and Butch Jojo, a 8 and 1/3 share each."

"Well, that's everything in the will. Any questions?" Nobody said anything, which the attorney took as a positive sign. "In that case, I must be going - loads of paperwork to do." As he stood up to leave, he remembered something else, and removed a thin case from his briefcase. "Ah yes, the Professor also left this with his will - I believe it contains a last personal message; he never told me." And with that, the attorney left, followed shortly by Ms. Keane, the Mayor, and Principal Bellum, after all three had once again paid their condolences.

An uneasy silence settled over the seven children left sitting in the lounge, which was eventually broken when Buttercup gave a slight cough several minutes later.

"Um...well, I guess we'd better do something, hadn't we?" asked Blossom. The others all nodded their assent, and Butch came up with the universal answer for this sort of situation.

"Maybe we should eat?" Everyone just stared at him as though he had said possibly the most disgusting thing in the world that could have been said at that moment, but the protests stopped when several stomachs growled in appreciation of the suggestion. With the combined powers and speed of six superheroes, dinner was prepared, cooked, and served up in a matter of minutes, while Robyn just stood in the kitchen doorway and watched the lightshow that resulted, staring in awe.

"Wow, I wish I had powers like you guys", she said, wistfully. Brick moved away from the flying food and took Robyn's hand in his own.

"I like you just the way you are Robyn", he said, and gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. Robyn blinked in pleasant surprise and turned a deep shade of red, staring down at her feet. Everyone else went "aww!" except for Buttercup, who mimed an act of vomiting into the refrigerator, but lost her balance and fell in, pulling the door shut behind her.

"Well whaddya know - the light really DOES go out when you shut the door!"

* * *

After dinner, Robyn said her goodbyes to the others, heading back to her own house. 

"You don't have to go Robyn", said Bubbles. "We'd like you to stay and watch the Professor's message with us."

Robyn "umm"-ed and "ah"-ed for a while before shaking her head firmly. "I wouldn't feel right, intruding on such a personal moment. My mum and dad are getting home tonight anyway, so I want to be there when they get in." Everyone was shocked by this statement.

"You mean you've been home alone?" Blossom asked. Robyn nodded in reply. Blossom was quietly outraged. "How long have your parents been away, Robyn?" Robyn thought about this for a moment before answering.

"Only over the weekend. And it's not so bad; they don't understand me at all, not like you girls do. If any of my toys leave my room, they throw them away and give me a big lecture about being more responsible for my possessions. They always make me leave the house when one of their business associates comes round for dinner - it's like they're ashamed to even have a daughter. And they think you're a bad influence on me, always getting into fights and stuff."

"But we're doing that to save Townsville!" blurted out Buttercup, as the boys wandered off to have their own conversation, feeling that this was a "girl"-talk.

"That's what I told them on Friday evening, and then next thing I know, they were packing their bags and telling me they had an emergency conference to go to in Cairo, and that I couldn't come along."

"Well," said Bubbles, decisively, "you're not staying along tonight, is she?" Blossom and Buttercup agreed, as did the boys from the other side of the room, and then they all joined in one giant group hug.

Once the girls had set up and old bed of theirs they had found in the garden shed, and put it up in Bubbles' bedroom, they put the DVD on. As earlier assumed, it turned out to be a last message from their beloved Professor, though not at all what they were expecting the message to say.

"Is this thing on?" The Professor asked, from his seat in front of the digital camera.

"Yeah dad, it is," said Bubbles, except that her voice sounded different than usual - slightly higher, signifying that this recording was several years old. The girls shared a look of amazement as Bubbles floated into view of the camera - she looked to be only 6 or 7 years old in this recording!

"Whoa, I look so young," said Bubbles breathlessly, "but why was daddy making his last message to about five years ago?"

"Shush, and maybe we'll find out," snapped Butch, whispering quickly so as not to talk over anything else being said.

The Professor in the recording said, "Thanks Bubbles - now go and play with your sisters. I just need to record a short speech for posterity." The young Bubbles nodded, causing her pigtails to bounce around her head, and zipped out into the garden, where squeals of joy could be heard emanating from.

"To my darling girls, to Robyn, and to you too, Brick, Boomer and Butch," the Professor began, causing all seven of them to go into shock when Robyn and the boys were mentioned, "I don't have a lot of time to record this message, so I must be brief with what I am about to say."

"You seven are watching this because I am dead. That's the only reason that my attorney would have given it to you, after all. I don't know when I die or how, and quite frankly I wouldn't want to, but I know that I don't have as many years left as I should, and I'll get to how I know all of this in due time."

"First of all, I must give you vital information." Here, the recording gave a brief burst of static over both the picture and the sound before resuming at full quality. The Professor's face now filled the screen as he knelt close in front of the camera, trying not to be overheard by his daughters playing outside in the garden. "Sutekh is dangerous - he must be stopped as soon as possible."

"But how?" asked Boomer, confused beyond all hope. Bubbles cuddled up to him tightly, scared by this message from the past telling them about the present.

"I'm scared Boomie", she said, burying her face in his shoulder.

"I know Bubbles. Don't be scared - there's gotta be a rational explanation, right Brick?"

"Yeah," said Brick, turning to face the rest of them and pausing the DVD for a moment, "a perfectly rational explanation. Let's see what it is, shall we?" When he received six nods, he pressed the play button to continue.

"There are ancient Egyptian legends stating that Sutekh is a god who was banished from the land of the Gods and partially stripped of his powers for causing unnecessary destruction in the world of the mortals. These legends aren't too clear, and nearly all of them have no founding in egyptological evidence whatsoever. Others, however, talk of a man who discovered how to wield the "powers of the gods", and tried to defy them by bringing his parents back from the dead."

"This man fought against the gods for years, centuries even, staying alive by sheer willpower. Whatever the gods threw at him, he survived just by thinking himself to be indestructible. He couldn't fight back however, stuck within the universe while the gods are, of course, outside it. Over time, he became bitter and twisted, and started killing innocent people for fun, and eventually let his guard down just enough, during the course of a swathe of destruction and chaos, for the gods to be able to imprison him in a rock that was hurled into space, never to return to earth."

"But he's not trapped in an asteroid now, is he?" asked Brick. "So how did he get free?" Everyone else simply shook their heads and waited for the Professor to proceed with his discourse.

"The binding process limited his powers somewhat, but whenever he approaches a planet the asteroid's power over him weakens and he can escape periodically, for a short time. Once out of the rock, he can cause unlimited chaos once more. The legend finishes by saying that the binding process links him to the asteroid entirely; if it's destroyed, so is he - once and for all."

"Simple then," Butch spoke up. The girls turned to face him. "We just have to destroy the asteroid." Blossom groaned. "Butch, do you **know** how many asteroids there are in this solar system alone?" Butch guessed at a few hundred. "Try tens of thousands. And it may not even **be** in the solar system at the moment."

"To help you out, I've designed several inventions that should help you. I only hope I have time to build them before I must meet my own maker. All the schematics are included on this DVD; you'll need the computer's DVD-ROM to access them." Blossom started booting up the computer in the corner of the lounge immediately.

"Good luck girls, boys," the sounds of laughter grew louder in the background now, and all three 6 or 7 year-old Powerpuffs could be seen coming into the kitchen in the background, soaked from head to toe despite the hot sunny weather. "You all have important roles to play in the upcoming battle, even you Robyn", he said, much to her surprise, seemingly looking out of the screen directly at her. "Yes, very important roles indeed - this may be the battle that decides the fate of humanity itself. I love you all so very, very much, and I'm sorry for the fact that I will try to kill you boys when you return to life," the girls were getting a drink of juice during this quick speech, "but I am still angry at what you did to my girls in your first meeting."

Butch and Boomer shrugged, showing that they understood how the Professor felt.

"Now, I must say goodbye. I'm proud of you all, and I still will be no matter what happens next." As the girls approached, wondering what the Professor was recording, the image cut to static briefly before stopping entirely. The DVD ejected automatically from the player and Blossom picked it up, taking it over to the computer.

"Right, let's see what dad's left us to fight this evil." She said.

"Don't worry Blossom, we'll make it alright, won't we Buttercup?"

"Yeah, sure we will. We've fought worse in our time."

"Maybe - though that's debatable under the circumstances," said Brick thoughtfully.

"Plus, those are monsters - very few of them were people who turned completely evil", added Boomer.

"And how many evil beings, human or otherwise, have you ever killed?" Asked Butch. The girls just shrugged.

"We've always handed them over to the authorities, who imprison them," explained Blossom, opening a window to browse the contents of the disc.

"Yeah, until they escape", said Buttercup, bitterly.

Over the next couple of hours, Bubbles, Buttercup, Robyn and the three Rowdyruff Boys pulled up seats by the computer and examined the schematics left by the Professor - they were, very roughly, a wristwatch tracking device, which could locate the wearer relative to a central beacon device, and had potentially unlimited range, another machine which could detect massive sources of power, of any kind, a prototype power source, a radio transceiver capable of sending and receiving signals across time from other such transceivers, a remote-controlled, flying nano-camera, and 7 heavily armoured and armed spacesuits for both the boys, the girls, and the seventh one for Robyn.

There was also a short written document from the Professor, explaining how he knew so much about what was yet to come - he had already received a signal from the future, from - apparently - two days later (from the children's current point of view), according to the person who had sent him the message, who was Blossom herself. He had, it seemed, tried searching further into the future for other signals from the transceiver, but hadn't found any, though this could mean anything from as trivial as a future malfunction in the radio to the complete annihilation of the universe, or somewhere in between. Nobody wanted to speculate on this matter. By the time that all had read this letter, there was not a single dry eye in the house.

Well, we know we live for the next two days," said Blossom, to lighten the mood, "so let's get some sleep and head out in the morning. We've got a big rock to bust!"

And so the seven children headed up to bed - the boys to the attic, Bubbles and Robyn to Bubbles' room, and Blossom and Buttercup to their own rooms each. None of them said anything more out loud that night, but all were wondering the same thing:

_We survive the next two days, I know - but what about after that...? _

To be continued...

* * *

Author responses and thanks: 

**Heart Throb: **Thanks for the encouragement, much appreciated - but I'm lousy at writing quickly, so expect months to go by between updates... :(  
**Kitty17794: **Yeah, I'm not afraid to include deaths in my fics. :) I like PPG/RRB stories too (romance ones included, if not clichéd. As for whether or not any PPG or RRB will die, I promise nothing - I haven't planned that far ahead! :D).  
**Anonymous person who didn't leave a name: **Yeah, I know. I'm a slow writer - I can have ideas fairly easily, but writing them into an actual story takes a LONG time (hence why I decided not to do a degree in English Language... :P)  
**Ivygreen: **I wonder why didn't you believe me? Do you think I'm not that insane for some reason? - Because I am DEFINITELY that insane. Loopy Grin I don't know why I killed the Professor...oh wait, I do. I really don't know why I killed Him though - hang on, no; that was just for fun. :D Can he kill the PPG and RRB? - I don't know. Will he? - I don't know that either (surprising, as I'm the author; don't know much, do I? LOL). No more deaths this chapter, is that better?


	12. Vox e mortuus: Part 2

Friendly warning in advance: if you don't like long chapters, this fic may not be for you. Although early chapters were quite short by my current standards (about 3.5 kilowords each), each one seems to be longer than the last - whenever I set a word limit, I go waaaay over it (did with essays at school, too). This one's over 6 kilowords long, so I re-iterate; if you don't like long chapters, don't read it and then complain about the length. :D 

Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

****

The Chemical X Chronicles

By Gregory Cooper

7 - Vox e mortuus - Part 2

* * *

* * *

Everyone had gone off to bed in the Utonium household, but not all of them were asleep. Butch felt a sense of terrible foreboding about the events that were to transpire once they awoke the next morning, and couldn't shake it no matter how hard he tried.

"Hey Brick, you awake?" he asked, not wishing to disturb his brother if he happened to already be asleep.

"Huh...wha? Go to sleep already Butch..." murmured Brick, clearly not in the mood to talk at such an hour. He tried calling out to Boomer too, with a similar result.

"Ow!" he muttered, as Boomer grabbed up the first thing that came to hand and flung it at him. Caught unawares by the bedside cabinet flung at him, his head was smacked against the wall, leaving a small dent in it and his head throbbing with a full ache.

_I think I'll just go outside and get some fresh air_, he thought. _Maybe it'll tire me out, too. _

As quietly as possible, the dark-haired ruff slid open the window nearest to him and floated out through it, heading up to the house's completely flat roof, where he sat down and pondered, while gazing out at the lights of the nearby city, on what fortunes the morning would bring.

* * *

"Wakey wakey people!" Robyn yelled through loudhailer as she walked past the door to Bubbles' room. "T-1 hour to launch! Up, wash, dress and then downstairs where breakfast will be waiting for you! At the double!"

A large ball of black hair poked its head out from behind another door, and Buttercup's voice issued forth from it, saying "Ugh. Give it a break Robyn, it's way too early to be awake."

"Nonsense Buttercup!" Robyn yelled, still through the loudhailer. "It's 7:30 and you lot have an asteroid to destroy!"

"What about school?" Bubbles asked, as she bounced out of her room, already dressed in standard Powerpuff Girls' attire and busily brushing her teeth.

"Yeah, what about school?" asked Blossom, also emerging from her bedroom, having washed and dressed, but not yet having managed to tame her long auburn locks that had become tangled during the night. Her hair had grown considerably over the years, as Blossom prided it so much that she refused to have it even trimmed, never mind cut. Loose, her tresses now descended all the way to the floor.

"Don't worry, all taken care of," answered Robyn. "I called the school and informed them that you six will be absent today to fight evil. Miss Bellum said it was totally cool." After a slight questioning look from the three sisters, she hastily added, "though not in those exact words." All four girls collapsed in a fit of giggles, Bubbles foaming at the mouth with toothpaste.

Finally, all this noise awoke Brick and Boomer from their beds in the attic, and they washed and dressed at super speed, and appeared in a flash.

"Whoa, what's with all the noise?" asked Brick. "Couldn't we have slept in just a little longer?"

"Sorry Bricky, but you lot have a job to do. I, meanwhile, still have to go to school", Robyn said, pouting slightly. Brick gave her a conciliatory cuddle, while Boomer likewise greeted Bubbles with a good morning hug.

Blossom and Buttercup, not joining in the moment of bonding, noticed that one person was conspicuous by his absence.

"Where's Butch?" asked Buttercup, which would have drawn some teasing from the others, but for the fact that they knew all too well how she felt about the boy.

"I heard him walking around on the roof last night," said Brick. "Maybe he's worried about today?"

"No reason why he should be," said Boomer. "Just a dumb piece o' rock, isn't it?" The others naturally agreed.

Once the entire group were ready, they headed down to the kitchen to find that Robyn had already cooked breakfast, and that she was rather proficient at it too. Robyn had prepared a large stack of pancakes dripping with maple syrup, six whole continental breakfasts, and a massive pile of toast.

"Mmm-mmm," said a boy's voice from outside the kitchen window, "that food smells great." The voice was accompanied by Butch, floating in through the kitchen window.

"So where were you all night?" asked Boomer.

Butch ignored the question, pulled up a seat, and took one of the continental breakfasts that he began eating at a fairly slow, steady rate. In between bites, he told them.

"I was on the roof," he said, finishing off a sausage. "I was thinking about what we gotta do today," half a poached egg followed, "and if Sutekh is as powerful as we think he is, we're gonna have a helluva fight on our hands."

"You're right," said Brick, eating his own meal of pancakes and tomatoes. "Which is why we're doing this armed to the teeth." Everyone gasped at this statement - no ruff or puff had ever needed to carry weapons before.

"I see what you mean, Bricky," interjected Robyn. "This...Sutekh?" Blossom nodded, "he sounds really powerful if he can do everything I've heard. But what would be any use against him?"

"Well," said Blossom, thinking carefully, "all those devices the Professor mentioned in his last message should be pretty damn useful to us. We can track his power readings, so we won't be flying around bustin' every asteroid in the solar system, and the super-spacesuits will come in handy. I'm not quite sure about the rest of it though. The homing beacons too, I guess."

"Any explosives?" asked Boomer, having finished his breakfast already.

"Explosives?" asked Bubbles, scared. "What sort of 'splosives dya mean, Boom-Boom?"

"Nukes", he answered simply, and the others just stared slack-jawed at him. "Go up there, plant them under the surface, and bye-bye asteroid and Sutekh!"

"Yeah well, nice and clean as that sounds," said Buttercup, "we don't have any. The Professor refused to ever deal with explosives, and that's one rule we're sticking with." Both her sisters agreed with her, as did Robyn and Brick.

"Guess it's just our powers then," said Butch, having also finished eating. "So when do we leave?"

"Well," said Blossom, taking charge, "we just have to all suit up, grab the homing devices and energy detector, and we can..."

DING DONG!

"I wonder who that could be?" said Robyn, going to answer the door. Everybody else got up from the kitchen table, and after quickly cleaning the kitchenware, moved into the lounge, where Robyn stood with Princess.

"Princess?" said Blossom, clearly confused. "What on Earth are you doing here?"

Princess just stood there, dressed in normal attire, and said "Nice to see you too, Blossom." "Yeah well, it's a...surprise, I'll say that", said Blossom. "Last time we saw you outside of school, you were being hauled off to juvenile detention about 5 years ago. Things have changed, I grant you, but I never expected to see you standing in our lounge and us having a civilised conversation."

"And yet here I am," said Princess, her voice completely devoid of its' previous nasal whining and sarcastic tone. "I've been monitoring the situation in Townsville recently, and I felt that I should offer my services to help you defeat the villain who killed your father."

Everyone, bar Butch, merely blinked at this proposal.

"You want to...ally yourself with us?" asked Blossom, stunned.

"Yes. I mean, I realise I can never be a Powerpuff - I've come to accept that fact through years of counselling. But I think I can help, and I'd like to try."

"Is this all just 'cos of you and Butch getting it on?" asked Buttercup, as crass as ever.

"No, of course not!" Princess said, indignance in her voice. "I just felt that we should try to put the past behind us." "Good idea," said Blossom, and Bubbles smiled slightly at the idea that a truce would be reached; she among the others most hoped for peaceful solutions to problems.

"Really?" asked Princess, wary of being tricked.

"Honestly," said Blossom, holding out her hand to shake with Princess. "I can't forgive, or forget, what you've done in your time, but maybe we can draw a line under it all and move on."

"Yay!" squealed Bubbles, hugging Boomer tightly, before turning back to Princess. "I forgive you Princess - you've realised that what you were doing was wrong, and you served your sentences."

"I don't", said Buttercup, to no-one's particular surprise. "You may not be my enemy any longer, Princess, but you certainly ain't my friend. And you never will be, either." So saying, Buttercup strode off towards the Professor's laboratory, intending to suit up and fly as soon as possible.

"Can I come with you?" asked Princess, hopefully. "I know you're going on a mission into space, and I came prepared."

"I doubt that," said Blossom, but Butch butted in.

"Sorry babe, but this one's too big. This guy's dangerous - like, god-like dangerous. Trust me, you don't wanna be nearby when it goes down."

"Butch is right, Princess," added Brick. "And I'm glad you're staying behind too, Robyn," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the mouth and then leading the other ruffs and puffs down to the lab in search of Buttercup and the equipment.

Princess and Robyn just sat down on the couch. "Huh", said Princess, "so this is what it's like to date a superhero." "Yep," said Robyn, "join the club." Then smiling, she added, "well, we'd better get ready for school while they gear up."

"You're still going to school?" asked Princess "while they're up there fighting God-knows-what?"

"Not God-knows-what," corrected Robyn. "Just a God. I'll tell ya on the way to school." And after collecting her books for the day and saying goodbye to their boyfriends and the others, Robyn and Princess headed out to Princess' car - a chauffeur-driven Ferrari - and headed off to school.

* * *

The six super-powered teens had been flying through space for over an hour, heading in the direction that the energy scanner indicated Sutekh - and his asteroid - were.

"How much further?" asked Buttercup, getting more than a little frustrated at how long the journey was taking, and how little everyone else seemed to be bothered by this fact.

"About a million miles less than the last time you asked, BC", said Brick, over the suits' 6-way intercom, with minor irritation at Buttercup's asking this for the tenth or so time.

"Which is to say," added Boomer, helpfully, "that the scanner says it's about 5 million miles past Mars."

"Yeah. We should be there in about another half hour," said Blossom, "so just save your breath, ok?" Buttercup just grumbled under her breath in response. "I heard that", Blossom said sharply.

As they approached Jupiter, they finally caught sight of the giant meteor. In space, it was impossible to tell how large it was, when the only reference point was Jupiter, hanging silent and motionless beneath it. As they approached, however, they saw that what they had thought was the asteroid was in fact merely its' leading edge, and by the time they landed, they could tell that it was massive as it had its own gravity. Not as strong as the Earth's by any stretch, but there was a definite downward drift.

"Whoa...this thing is massive; anyone got a plan for destroying it?" asked Butch. All six children gaped in awe at the sheer size of the rock on which they now all stood.

"Umm...perhaps we should've asked Congress for some nukes after all", ventured Blossom, laughing nervously.

The asteroid was indeed enormous - roughly the shape of an American football, perfectly even and smooth right across it's entire surface. It was easily over a megametre from head to tail, and over half as much around at its widest point. The first plan was to simply hit it, as it was frozen solid and they figured that they were strong enough to just shatter it into tiny shards, destroying it and their nemesis in one go.

Bubbles stood back and watched as Blossom and Brick attempted to analyse the material it was made of, and Boomer, Butch and Buttercup all prepared to throw their hardest punches at the rock at nearly the same point.

"Guys!" Blossom yelled out through the intercom. "Don't! It's too..."

Too late. Buttercup and both the boys had already struck out at the rock beneath them, unknowing of Blossom and Brick's findings, and were flung back a short way off the surface, all three cradling sprained wrists. They quickly flew back down as Blossom finished what she had been about to tell them.

"...tough", she said, exasperatedly. "Brick, you wanna explain?"

"Sure Bloss." Brick turned to the others, and addressed them through the intercom. "You see, this dust is only a thin layer on the asteroid's surface. Underneath, it's pure duranium." Bubbles was the only one totally surprised by this fact, as Blossom had found it out too, whilst the remaining three had learnt of it firsthand.

"Hang on", said Buttercup. "How do you know about duranium?" she asked, curiously. Boomer spoke up as he wandered over to Bubbles.

"Pops...I mean, Mojo, told us about it once. And Him showed us a huge weapons arsenal made of the stuff when he brought us back the first time", he said quickly. Everyone decided to get swiftly back on track with the conversation.

"So what now?" asked Bubbles. "How can we destroy this rock if it's oblivious to our superpowers?" Blossom smirked at her, and Bubbles pouted. "What? What did I say?"

"Its 'impervious' Bubbles", Boomer told her, as Buttercup and Blossom both burst in uncontrollable giggles for a few moments. Once their little giggle fit had passed, they all noticed that Butch was trying, futilely, to drill through the metal using his eyebeams, which were passing harmlessly through his helmet's visor. The beams kept bouncing off the metal and back into his eyes; it didn't hurt, but it was very aggravating nonetheless.

"Butch, give it up bro, it's useless" said Boomer, as Butch changed position slightly and struck Brick instead with a much stronger optic blast. This pissed Brick off as it singed his fringe, and he began to vent steam inside his suit.

"Butch, what did you have to do that for?" he yelled, flinging his arms about wildly at his cowering brother.

"Sorry Brick, I didn't mean to hit YOU. I was trying to break the meteor."

"One," said Brick, through clenched teeth, as the dust on the rock's surface started to sizzle and pop periodically, "it's an asteroid. A meteor is much smaller. Two, we already know it's Chemical X superpower resistant, so why? Why, Butch?"

"Umm, guys?" interceded Blossom.

"What?!" They both shouted at her. Most of the dust had now become so heated that it was freely floating away from the asteroid's surface, and a large metallic expanse was now revealed around them, as far as the eyes could see. This metal was, more importantly, now glowing a dull red.

"Something's happening," said Blossom, and the children all floated up from the surface as they could feel the heat prickling their skin through their spacesuits. The metal continued to glow, changing from a dull red to a dark orange, then to a bright yellow, and finally began to split right along it's length in absolute silence.

"What on Earth is doing that?" asked Buttercup, in awe.

"Me", said Brick, quite simply. "It happened when I got angry at Butch. I could feel myself getting hotter, and I just willed it away from me...and it must've moved to the asteroid."

Whatever was doing this, whether Brick had developed pyrokinesis or something entirely different had been behind it, more cracks were forming and spidering across the surface, now thousands of kilometres below them as they retreated to avoid burning up.

"What temperature does duranium boil?" asked Boomer, innocently, as they stared agape at the sight. Small pools of molten liquid were drifting away from the main body and floating up past them in all directions.

"I dunno," said Buttercup, entranced by the sight around her.

"The Professor did some experiments on duranium once, to see if there was any weaknesses which could help us to avoid getting caught by Mojo", Blossom said. "He managed to create spot heats of twenty thousand Celsius in a furnace, and it didn't even MELT."

Brick, all this while, had been concentrating all his mental energies into creating and projecting as much heat energy as possible at the now molten mass. He found that already the power was coming more easily to him; anger at Butch's pointless actions had been the catalyst, but once the dam was breached, the flood need not be forced much.

All at once, it split into small chunks of fluid and there was a soundless explosion as the asteroid was totally obliterated before them. Brick sensed its' destruction and opened his eyes. Once the spectacle was over, a man flew across the empty distance between where he had been trapped in the centre of the asteroid, and floated in front of them.

"Hello. My name is Sutekh", he said, calmly and simply.

"But...shouldn't you be dead?" asked Blossom. "We destroyed the asteroid...?"

"And for that, I am truly thankful," he said in a flat, emotionless voice; in truth, he sounded much like a computer speaking. "I have been trying to destroy that lump of rock for seven thousand, seven hundred and seventy seven years. That is why I choose not to kill you where you are right now."

"Puh-lease,", said Buttercup, derision evident in her voice. "Many have said that over the years, always right before we beat them to a pulp."

"Yes, but you can't always win," he said. "It's impossible - everything dies eventually."

"What about you?" asked Brick. Sutekh turned to face him directly, and the boy noticed that Sutekh didn't seem to need to blink.

"I won't."

"But you just said...?" asked Bubbles.

"Everything dies. Yes, except me. I have the power to halt the process of aging. And you were all under the impression that destroying the asteroid would kill me?" Six heads nodded in reply. "A myth - one I myself concocted, in the hopes that fools, such as yourselves, would attempt to bring about my ultimate downfall. In fact, the reverse is true; I am now free, and there is nothing you can do to stop me. Not that you could have before, that is."

"You have no idea how powerful we are", said Butch, boastfully.

"Oh. Is that a challenge?" Sutekh questioned. "Then please, give me a demonstration of your 'powers'."

Sutekh blinked suddenly, surprised by the spontaneous reversal of positions of Brick and Blossom. "You can teleport?" he asked.

"Don't be thick," said Brick, "teleportation's imposs...." before realising that the voice that issued from his lips was too high pitched; it had a feminine quality to it that he recognised. It was Blossom's voice!

Blossom had also noticed, and felt a cap resting atop her head instead of her ribbon; they had switched places, though neither knew that the now deceased Him was behind this bungled plan.

"Au contraire", said Sutekh, "Him was capable of teleporting." Boomer was the first to pick up on the use of the past tense. "Was? Don't you mean 'Is'?" he asked, and Sutekh shook his head.

"No - was. He was a thorn in my side for centuries - a sycophantic twit with a penchant for power that was only matched by his incompetence. I felt it necessary to excise him, permanently."

"You killed Him?" asked Blossom, incredulously, and everyone turned their attention to Blossom in Brick's body. "We've never been able to...I mean..." she trailed off, murmuring, as Bubbles glanced at her quizzically.

"Quite. Which is why you are not a threat to me. That said, a challenge has been issued, and I've been looking forward to a good fight. I don't hold much hope of finding it here, but I might be pleasantly surprised", he said, floating back to give himself more room.

Butch was the first to launch himself at Sutekh; flying at several times the speed of sound, he flew straight at Sutekh's stomach, but didn't even come close to hitting him.

At seemingly the very last moment, Sutekh moved to the side with such speed that the other children never even saw him move; one moment, he was in Butch's flight path; then, he was floating off to the side, and Butch was shooting off into space. Butch turned around and tried again, this time flying so fast that he became nothing more than a dark green blur against the blackness of space and the yellow-brownish of Jupiter's atmosphere.

Again, Sutekh moved so fast that he simply appeared to shift directly from one position to another without passing through the intervening space at all. Brick (in Blossom's body) and Boomer joined him and the three positioned themselves around Sutekh, and began throwing assorted barrages of punches, kicks and optic blasts him, none of them even coming close to their mark.

Blossom (in Brick's body), Buttercup and Bubbles floated a little way off, watching this non-battle; Sutekh easily evaded everything the boys threw his way, and didn't retaliate whatsoever, which only infuriated them even further. Buttercup grew agitated and tried to join them.

"No, Buttercup! We don't know what other powers he has - he's obviously incredibly fast; even with supervision, I can barely see the blur as he moves."

"Well tough - if Blossom's down there, I'm joining in!" Buttercup stated adamantly, and flew down to join the boys in delivering wholly useless attacks.

Sutekh got bored of easily evading all the assaults, just floated in place. As the four moved in on his position, a light blue aura surrounded his body, which expanded into a bubble that grew and grew. As it reached them, they were repelled forcefully, each coming to a halt some ten million kilometres away.

"They posed no challenged", Sutekh offered in explanation. Blossom took this as a cue and began her own attack, signalling Bubbles to stay at a safe distance.

She flew forward and then came to a halt a few metres from Sutekh.

"Ready for a strategic attack?" she asked, confident it would work. Even this man couldn't dodge at the speed of light.

"Please, by all means be my guest," he said, totally unruffled by events so far.

Brick's body began by firing a single optic blast at Sutekh; unsurprisingly, he dodged it with no effort. Undeterred, Blossom fired off a short volley of optic blasts all in Sutekh's general direction, as the others watched on.

Sutekh saw the first blast creeping towards him and slid sideways to move out of its' trajectory, thus placing himself in the way of another laser beam. Just as easily, he moved the other way and then spun around to slide between two further shots. The next for came at the same time, all around him, and he bent his body in way that the human body normally does not allow so that he looked like he had been folded back at the waist. Without pause, the next three discharges whizzed by, requiring Sutekh to spin on the spot and twist his torso at a ninety-degree angle to his lower half. As the last of the broadside moved past and off towards Jupiter's surface, he straightened himself up turned to face Brick once more.

Six faces stared blankly back at him, and he sighed in obvious exasperation. "This is a waste of time. I have plans to execute now." He turned and was about to fly away, when at Blossom's sign all six arranged themselves around him, ready for round three.

Sutekh, however, had different ideas.

"Now is clearly not the time for you to face me - you still have much to learn if you are to become worthy of being my adversaries", he said, as once again he easily dodged every eyebeam attack, punch and kick they attempted to land on him. Their unique powers were useless; Bubbles' sonic scream would only deafen her comrades (Sutekh was not wearing a helmet or spacesuit), Blossom's ice breath was similarly useless due to her helmet.

Buttercup endeavoured to employ electrical abilities, and fired a massive lightning bolt out of each hand. In the event, all that happened was that her intercom system exploded in a fury of sparks.

"What on...Buttercup? Can you hear me?" shouted Brick (as Blossom) into his own intercom.

Buttercup looked at him, realising why she couldn't hear what he had said, and mouthed back "No - my comms are down."

"You idiot!" he shouted into his mic, "These suits are insulated against electricity!"

Sutekh looked on, sidestepping attacks, and muttered, "Fools" to himself. Then flying around Blossom in Brick's body as she swung at him, Sutekh kicked out at the pre-occupied Brick and Buttercup. They were sent them flying off into the distance at a horrendous velocity. Having done so, he simply vanished from sight, teleporting down to Earth.

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH............."

Brick screamed in fear, and no small amount of pain, as the single kick sent them hurtling across the vast expanses of space, so fast that the stars themselves appeared to be moving around them...

Buttercup, at the same time, was also screaming her lungs out at the top of her voice, in spite of the fact that her damaged suit meant that Blossom could not hear her. Of course, if she had known it was actually Brick, not Blossom, she would have screamed even louder still.

Occasionally, a brighter light would flare up nearby to them for a short moment, before fading away into a glowing afterimage. For each star that they passed close to, their speed was reduced, until finally, after an age seemed to have passed for the two teenagers - whereas it was in fact mere minutes later - they came to a relative stop close to a small, rocky planet orbiting a massive blue star.

Brick turned to Buttercup and asked, "Where are we?" Buttercup, after a few moments to work out what had been mouthed, shrugged and replied to her sister, "Hell, if I know." The pair descended towards the planet beneath them.

* * *

"Blossom! Buttercup! If you can hear me, PLEASE respond!" shouted Blossom into her microphone, not wishing to confuse things even further by calling for Brick while she looked like him and vice versa.

_How could this happen? _She thought. _Maybe Him did this to Brick and me...before Sutekh killed him, obviously. It's just the sort of thing he'd try, too. And where could Brick and Buttercup be now...? _

"How far away do you think they are, Brick?" asked Bubbles, feeling scared and lonely in the blackness of space. Blossom wanted so much to give her sister a big, comforting hug and let her know it was her, but couldn't bring herself to admit this piece of weirdness was happening; not right now, anyway.

"I dunno Bubbles," she said, trying to ignore how different her voice sounded and imitate Brick's speech patterns. "Assuming Blossom's radio is still working, then it's gotta be a long way as her reply signal hasn't reached us yet."

* * *

"Hey Bloss, check it out!" said Buttercup, as soon as they broke through the total cloud cover in the planet's upper atmosphere. Below them stretched a large expanse of farmland, as far as the eye could see to the north, with rolling green hills to both sides, and a sandy coastline to the south. Up ahead, hovering above the farmland was a massive city full of skyscraper buildings whose tops vanished back up and into the high cloud formations.

"Interesting," Brick said. "They seem to have invented some sort of anti-gravitational device and used it to move their cities so that all the land is free for agriculture."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Bloss," Buttercup said, plainly not listening to his speech. "Maybe they can send us back to Earth...or at least could help us out?"

"Well, it can't hurt to try", Brick said, conceding. Buttercup however was already zooming off towards the levitating architecture.

As they approached the city, trying to find someone who could tell them more about this, Brick was the first to notice that it was oddly quiet.

"BC, dya hear anything?" he asked, flying up alongside her.

"No, but maybe that's 'cos we still have our helmets on", she said in reply. "The suit's meters show it's safe to breathe", she added, removing her helmet and holding it under her arm. Brick did the same.

"Strange - I still can't hear anything. Maybe it's further away than it looks," she suggested to Brick, who shook his head.

"That would mean it would be absolutely massive," he reasoned, "plus we've reached the edge already."

The two set down at the edge of the city and proceeded on foot, looking for anyone who they could talk to. No signs of life were forthcoming.

As they walked, they looked around. All the buildings were in the very literal sense of the word, "Sky-scrapers". Each towered over them for at least three hundred or more floors, and were all made out of poles of some incredibly hard and shiny metal that gave off a faint light blue glow, and what looked like glass. It wasn't glass however, as when Buttercup yelled "Hello?!" at the very top of her voice, none of the windows shattered. Buttercup's yells were by no means powerful compared to Bubbles' sonic scream, but could still shatter glass easily enough.

"This is getting creepy, Bloss", Buttercup said to Brick, who laughed in response.

"Why - just 'cos there's no-one here?" Buttercup nodded her head firmly. "OK, I'll admit it's quite bizarre..."

"Why would anyone build a city and leave it deserted?" pointed out Buttercup, to which Brick couldn't find an answer. "I get a strong feeling something happened here - something terrible."

"Like a war? But there's no signs of violence, no blood, no bodies...nothing", said Brick, looking around intently for anything out of place. "Except for that", he said, pointing to a large metal spike sticking out of the road up ahead. Upon approaching it, they saw that it was skewering a piece of paper that looked like the front page of a newspaper, except that they couldn't make out what the article was about. They didn't need to though, as the photo alongside the article told them all they needed to know.

* * *

Bubbles and the three Rowdyruffs had been floating in space above Jupiter and its' moons for several hours now, and oxygen was beginning to become a slight issue as they waited for word from Blossom about her and Brick's current predicament.

"Still no answer!"

"Didn't the Professor also make a gadget that could find these watches, wherever they are?" Boomer asked Bubbles, who nodded eagerly in reply.

"Yep!" she chirped, "It's in the lab I think - he made it in case he needed to find them; or us, for that matter."

"Of course! What are we waiting for then?" asked Blossom, and Bubbles, Boomer, and Butch turned around to face her. "Let's go home, we can use it to find where they ended up!" The four immediately set off on the long journey home.

Upon entering their house in the dark of night, they all shucked off their space suits, put them away, and began rooting around the Professor's laboratory in search of the necessary machine.

"I found it!" Butch cheered, and then on closer inspection, "You found a toaster, moron", Boomer said, pointing out what it actually was.

"Yeah well, you done any better?" "As a matter of fact, no I haven't" Boomer replied, "but Bubbles just found it, didn't ya?" he asked Bubbles, who pointed to what seemed to be a portable TV. Upon switching it on however, they found it was indeed the device they had been looking high and low for, as it showed their positions clearly in the room.

"Hey, that's us", said Bubbles.

"Of course, we're still wearing our watches", said Blossom, and switched hers off and removed it. As she turned it off, the others noticed that one of the dots of light vanished from the screen. "Zoom out, Bubbles", Blossom instructed.

"Okey dokey Brick", she said, and used the computer's very basic controls to zoom the image out. The three dots indicating Bubbles, Boomer and Butch's watches all moved in to the centre of the screen as the scale at the side changed from metres to kilometres, to thousands of kilometres, then to millions, then millions of millions. As the display changed to show tens of light-years, a look of sheer horror dawned on Brick's face.

"Oh no...." Blossom said, her voice barely above a whisper. Still the display didn't show Blossom and Buttercup's signature dots. The scale was now representing thousands of light years...

"There they are!" shouted Boomer, so loud that the others jumped back in fright as he pointed at a tiny dot on the edge of the screen, which the computer display's scale told them was..."seven hundred thousand light-years?!?"

This was turning out to be the longest day of their young lives.

* * *

"Sutekh?" Buttercup ejaculated in a squeaky voice. "When the fuck was he here?"

"Who knows - does it matter? All we need to know is that he WAS here, and that explains why this place is so lifeless."

"You mean..." asked Buttercup, afraid to finish her own question, "you think he - murdered everyone here?"

"Sure looks like it", Brick said, turning on the spot. "You said it yourself, BC. What's the point of an empty city? Except, it WASN'T empty - and it looks like he was here recently; there's no signs of disrepair that occur over the passage of time."

"Now what do we do?"

"We try to find some way back home. Though I have a feeling that it's gonna take a miracle. For right now though, we should find a better place to spend the night."

* * *

As the four earthbound children floated up towards their respective bedrooms - Blossom catching herself just in time and heading to the attic with Boomer and Butch instead of into her own room - the TV came on of its own accord, and the DVD player kicked into life again, resuming playback of the Professor's DVD. After a few seconds, the static cut back to an image of the Professor once again in front of the camcorder, this time with his lab as the backdrop.

"I can only hope that you will find some way to stop him - before he destroys all life. It's a terrible burden to put in the hands of children, but I know you will acquit yourselves brilliantly anyway."

They as one turned to face the screen, and listened as he continued talking. "On another note, I've discovered that your bodies, powered as they are by Chemical X, having truly astounding healing powers. I don't know how far your regenerative abilities extend, but I found that some cell samples I took from you in one of my earliest tests of your DNA were still growing. That's rather extreme, I think it was kept alive by the way I stored it, but you may be able to re-grow entire body parts over time; who knows...? Also, it means that your bodies don't age. Barring severe accidents, it seems that you six will live...forever..."

Once again, the image cut to static as Blossom's voice was heard off-camera. All four stared at the blank screen, and finally Blossom spoke up.

"If we ever find Buttercup and Blossom, we don't tell 'em. There's no need to freak 'em out even more." The others wordlessly agreed, too stunned to do anything else.

As all six children settled down to sleep that night, two separated from the other four by a vast distance, they all prayed, _I hope we can do this...._ Meanwhile, Sutekh was back in his new Earthly palace, masquerading as a humble warehouse, planning his next move. He would need followers...an army of willing followers.

To be continued...

* * *

Author responses and thanks:

**Ivygreen: **Glad you liked it - I hope you're saying you like lengthy updates, 'cos this one is even longer, at a little over 6 kilowords (6074 to be precise). Any longer, and I'm gonna have to start splitting my work and posting it in multiple parts (a good or a bad thing?).  
**Dooly: **Sorry about the long wait between chapter 10 and 11 - I think that's made most people think twice about reading new parts since a)they can't remember what's happened so far, and b)it'd take too long to re-read. Well, that's my own fault, so I don't hold it against them.  
Yep, fighting a god will be very hard - the first real taste of them fighting him is in this chapter. This one's gonna take more than just lots of training to overcome... Evil Grin The "R" rating allows me a lot of leeway - that's not the last death there'll be in this fic, I'm fairly sure... :D 


	13. Vox e mortuus: Part 3

Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

**

The Chemical X ChroniclesBy Gregory Cooper7 - Vox e mortuus - Part 3

**

* * *

* * *

"What the...? Where am I?" was the first thought running through Brick's head as he opened his eyes. Slowly, it all began to come back to him - the asteroid, fighting Sutekh, getting knocked across space and ending up on this alien world, finding evidence that Sutekh had been here too...all of it.

Standing up and slowly stretching, Brick caught sight of an unusual reflection in a nearby glass panel, and went to inspect it more closely.

"Her...her face...so that was real too", he thought, touching his...Blossom's...face to prove the truth of the situation to himself.

"Ungh..."

Brick spun around and saw Buttercup, curled up in a foetal position on the quite warm, polished metal floor, roll to face the opposite wall and give out another groan.

"Please Blossom...another five minutes, I promise that's all..." Buttercup muttered, still mostly asleep. Brick straightened his bow - _How does she manage all this hair? It must take up hours every single day! _he thought - and dress, then knelt beside Buttercup and shook her gently.

"No BC, it's time to get up now," he said, rocking her shoulder. Buttercup just groaned again and rolled back to face him. Her eyes flew open, and Brick winced at how red and bloodshot they looked, and then she spoke quite clearly four small words that shocked Brick, even more than his current predicament.

"I love you, Brick."

"What!"

That snapped Buttercup out of her daze. Sitting up so fast that her stiff back creaked slightly, Buttercup did a momentary triple take. "Huh?" she said, "what's wrong? What is it?"

A light dawned metaphorically over Brick's head, and he smirked.

"What is it, Bloss?" Buttercup asked, irritated now at being so rudely awoken. "We're on an alien planet with no idea how to get home, why are you waking me up while it's still dark?"

Brick took pause for thought, and then realised that she was right; it was indeed still the middle of the night outside.

"They probably have a longer day-night cycle here", he said to avert the scowl heading his way. Then, smirking, "and you were calling Brick's name in your sleep" he said, barely managing to say "Brick's" instead of "my".

"O my God; I didn't, did I?" Brick nodded as he floated back over to the window and glanced out at the slightly lighter sky. Buttercup muttered something obscene under her breath before joining him at the window. "Looks like morning's coming then."

Brick just stared at the dim white light now spilling over the deserted cityscape, making it look more eerie than before. "Yeah. Must be a binary star system, yesterday the sun was yellow."

"Whatever" Buttercup said, shrugging, and turned to head out of the building that they had used as an impromptu hotel. "Wanna go look for a bathroom?"

* * *

Blossom had similarly woken up and gone through the shock of memory about the previous day. Sitting up, she examined the Rowdyruff Boys' room with a critical and clinical eye, and made a face at the sight that greeted her.

"How anyone can live like this is beyond me" she muttered to herself. "I mean, this lot's gotta breeding a load of germs for one thing."

"Ah, quit your complaining," Butch said, having been woken up by Blossom's - or, as he saw her, Brick's - fidgeting around and talking. "You've never been too worried about it before; what's the diff now?"

"Well..." Blossom said, stalling for time as she tried to explain the change in behaviour. "What if I wanted to bring Robyn up here? Dya think she'd be impressed with this lot?" she said, swinging her arms out to encompass the chaotic state the attic was currently in. Almost every square inch of flooring was covered with at least one article of clothing; some half-eaten snacks lay around, turning mouldy, and crumbs littered the place; lastly, something was heard scuttling around in one corner.

"Ow!"

"Sorry Boomer", Blossom said, trying to look apologetic and still maintain Brick's pretty manly image.

"'Sokay, man".

"You've got a point," Butch said. "Princess would probably dump me if I ever showed her the state of this room. And what about you and Bubs, Boomer?"

Boomer stopped midway through tugging a relatively clean blue sweater over his head, and mumbled through the material, "I'm lucky, dude. Have you seen the girls' room? Bubbles' corner is almost as messy as this place."

"True" said Blossom, trying to find something to wear that didn't smell enough to make her sick. After locating such clothes and spraying herself liberally with No-Name deodorant, she continued, "but that lot is all toys. This place is growing its' own mould."

"Okay", and "You're the boss, boss", greeted Blossom's ears, and they performed a super-speed spring clean. The floor was polished, the dirty clothes gathered into a basket, and all the leftover food was removed.

"I'd say this room was almost habitable again", Blossom said eventually, smirking at her "brothers". "Who wants breakfast?" Boomer and Butch didn't answer, instead just heading straight for the kitchen. "I'll take that as a 'yes', then", she said, smiling to herself.

Blossom was the last of the three to arrive in the kitchen, to find Boomer and Butch both pulling stuff out of the fridge. Having been present at their last attempt at cooking, roughly a week earlier, she quickly shooed them away from the stove and began cooking all on her own.

While Blossom was still cooking a large breakfast - bacon and eggs for five - Robyn and Bubbles entered the room in the middle of a conversation.

"Thanks Bobbi", Bubbles said, using her nickname for her best friend. "I'm glad you were there - the room just felt so empty without Blossom or Buttercup last night."

"I understand, Bubbles. But don't worry, they'll be back - the Powerpuff Girls are unbeatable, right?" Robyn smiled, and Bubbles smiled and nodded weakly in return. Blossom watched this short exchange, wishing more than anything else at that moment that she could go over to Bubbles and comfort her, but she didn't feel like revealing that she was in fact Blossom and not Brick. While it might life Bubbles' spirits, it would have a similar and opposite effect on the boys. What to do...?

Bubbles and Robyn hugged briefly before separating and heading over to their respective beaus. Bubbles moved over to Boomer and kissed him, then took a seat next to him and waited for Brick to finish cooking.

"Hey Bricky", Robyn said, walking up behind Blossom and giving her a cuddle. Everyone else assembled gave a small half-concealed snigger at the pet name. Blossom jumped at the unexpected contact, which did not go unnoticed by Robyn. "What's wrong, Brick?" she asked, moving back to get a proper look at Blossom.

"Nothing much, Robyn," Blossom said. As she couldn't go through with saying that she was really Blossom trapped in Brick's body - _I'd feel humiliated_ - she had to pretend to be Brick, and that included appropriate behaviour with his girlfriend. Leaning over, Blossom gave Robyn a kiss on the tip of her nose, absolutely refusing point blank to kiss a girl on the lips - especially as said girl thought she was someone else. Robyn's vaguely worried expression receded.

"Good. Want some help with the cooking?"

"Sure."

In no time at all, bacon and eggs times five was served up and eaten in a similarly short order. No one really knew quite what to say; everything just seemed too quiet without Buttercup stuffing her face loudly and Blossom complaining about her table manners. The breakfast was short and nearly silent.

"Well, that was a great breakfast Brick, kudos", said Boomer.

"Yep", Butch said, patting his stomach, "my compliments to the person who ate that". He burped, and Bubbles looked at him in mild disgust. "What - some countries consider belching a compliment."

"Yeah Butch, but we're not in any of those countries", said Robyn, shaking her head. "How long 'til we gotta be at school, Brick?" she asked, hugging Blossom.

"Wha...oh, right", said Blossom. _Should I tell them? If I do, they'll know I'm not lost; but that would mean that Boomer and Butch would lose a brother instead. What to do...? _She glanced at her watch. "Half an hour. We flying or taking the bus?"

"We're flying", said Bubbles, indicating herself and Boomer. They headed off to round up all their books and equipment.

"I dunno about you lot, but I'm taking the limo with Princess. She's picking me up right around now", said Butch, grabbing his bag from the couch and strolling out of the door to Princess' black limousine. "Hey babe - how was your night?" he asked, getting in.

"Well..." she began, closing the door, and the last thing the other four heard was, "I had an interesting dream - let me show you what it was about..." and then the door was closed and the car took off down the road. Seconds later, Bubbles and Boomer followed it in two streaks of blue light, one light and the other dark.

Turning to Blossom, Robyn smiled coyly at her and said, "we have the house to ourselves now Bricky...wanna have a little fun?"

_Fun! What's Robyn's idea of fun with "Bricky"? _Blossom thought, mortified at the idea of what might yet happen if she couldn't put a stop to it in time. Blossom glanced around nervously.

"Shouldn't we be getting to school?" she asked, going to the couch to get their bags. Robyn followed her and then sat down on the couch next to her.

"Not quite yet", she said, and hands began wandering. Blossom gulped as she felt Robyn's hands stroking lightly up and down her thighs through Brick's pair of jeans that she was wearing, trying to get her excited. Despite the fact that Blossom was petrified regarding what was happening, she could feel Brick's body responding to Robyn's teasing touches.

_I can't do this! _she thought, desperately. _I can't really cheat on Brick with my best friend...can I? Then again, if I'm not gonna tell them I'm Blossom, then I have to be convincing as Brick; ugh, I hate my life so much right now, I wish I..._

Blossom was so lost in her thoughts that she had never even noticed Robyn's lips pressing against her own. Blossom's eyes went wide in shock for a brief moment, before she began to relax into the kiss, determined to keep it as close to platonic as she could manage without arousing suspicion. Just as Robyn brought her tongue into action as well, the school bus pulled up outside the house. Blossom almost sighed in relief when the horn sounded, and she practically pulled Robyn out of the house and onto the school bus, thankful for the interruption at that moment.

* * *

"Come on Bloss - what're you waiting for? We both need to bathe, ya know!" Buttercup said as they stood at the waters' edge. After leaving the floating city behind for the moment, they had headed down to a giant lake on the planet's surface in order to carry out their daily ablutions. Brick was just standing there though, stunned by Buttercup's brazenness as she stripped bare and cannon-balled into the clear fresh water. Buttercup swam back over to the edge of the lake and looked up at her sister.

"Well, ya just gonna stand there all day? Come on in; the water's warm", she said encouragingly. Brick was still thinking over the image of Buttercup taking off her clothes, and felt himself growing warm too. Snapping out of his daze, he quickly pulled off the dress and underwear that Blossom had been wearing. Finally, he removed her bow, letting Blossom's long hair float free right down to his feet.

"Wow", said Buttercup, "since we all stopped bathing together, I forgot just how long your hair really was now."

"Well, at least I don't have to wear that damn dress for a while - it's too effin' breezy", Brick muttered to himself, and then literally flew into the lake.

While Buttercup splashed around and quickly washed herself, Brick took half an hour to wash all of Blossom's auburn tresses - _If we don't switch back bodies soon, I'm gonna give her a haircut! _Then, turning to face Buttercup, and hiding a blush at seeing her body, he got a devilish idea.

Moments later, Buttercup noticed the water around her becoming much warmer than before, so that it began to bubble. She looked over to see Blossom grinning sneakily and using her eyebeams to boil the water around Buttercup. As the bubbles burst against Buttercup's skin, the sensation began to tickle faintly, and she was soon engulfed in a column of steam, still laughing her head off.

"Ha-ha!" Brick laughed, then blew the steam away to find that Buttercup had vanished into thin air. "BC - where are ya?" he called out, as Buttercup swam up from below him, grabbing his ankle and pulling down on it to throw him off balance, and then gave him a brief playful tickle on the sole of his foot. Brick felt it at the exact same moment that he almost doubled over with laughter, and leapt out of the water back onto dry land, Buttercup still holding onto his leg and sniggering at his reaction.

"Okay, okay, turnabout's fair play", he agreed, and they got dressed quickly as they were quite cold now they were out of the water.

"I won't cheat on Robyn - I just won't", Brick kept muttering to himself, blushing profusely every time he so much as glanced at Buttercup while the two dressed.

* * *

Sutekh sat in his throne room, meditating, when he sensed two people coming in his direction. Opening his eyes, he saw a couple enter the room. Upon seeing him, the man bowed while the woman curtsied. Both appeared to be in awe of his presence, but he could not sense any fear in them.

"Why are you here?" Sutekh asked the couple. The man took a step forward and spoke, haltingly.

"Lord...m-my name is..."

"Not important to me", Sutekh said, standing up and smoothing out his suit jacket. Walking over to the couple in long strides, he towered over the man and stared deeply into his eyes. "Again, why are you here?"

The woman, still looking at the floor, said, "W-we sensed great power, and we want to be a part of it, of your great plan...master."

Sutekh smiled at the woman's answer; his smile held no warmth at all. He appeared back on his throne, and both blinked in surprise.

"You wish to be my followers?" he asked, finding such an idea pleasing.

"Yes...yes, we do, master", said the man, bowing again.

"Fine." Sutekh created a glass of water and took a sip from it. "Go, find more who wish to worship me. But be discreet - there will be those who would want to oppose me. I do not wish to draw unwanted attention"

"At once, lord", said the woman. The couple headed for the grand doors, but stopped short as Sutekh's voice spoke to them in their heads.

"But first...prove your allegiance - kill for me..." Both nodded and continued out of the massive hall, as Sutekh's plan unfolded in their minds.

* * *

Having returned to the sky city, Buttercup and Brick floated aimlessly about, searching for something - anything - that could help them. Gradually, the depressing reality hit home, that there was nothing anyone or anything could do; they were well and truly stranded, and they didn't even know where.

An idea popped into Buttercup's head "Maybe if we could find some star charts...?"

"It wouldn't be any good, Buttercup," Brick said, looking through the window of a building to discover it was a restaurant. "We can't speak the language - and even if we could, all the constellations would have different names. We could never be sure."

"Well what do you suggest then, smart-ass?" Buttercup asked, growing increasingly frustrated. She tried to rip out one of the metal streetlight posts, but found that they were far too heavy and inflexible to move. After a few seconds, she gave up and wiped her brow, floating back next to Brick.

"So? What're you looking for - a computer info terminal?"

Brick rubbed his chin thoughtfully before replying. "Actually, that's not such a bad idea Buttercup." Floating off, he left Buttercup behind open-mouthed.

"B-b-b-b-b-but, you said we can't read their language."

"True. But maybe their computers can understand ours. They certainly look more advanced than humans, don't they?" Buttercup simply nodded at the idea.

Eventually, after searching through the buildings for hours, talking to each other about random subjects, singing, and playing games to keep themselves from feeling too lonely, they came across the biggest of all the structures, a skyscraper of truly gargantuan proportions; made of the same material as all of the others, the edifice stretched so high up that the top was barely visible using their super-vision. Above the main entry door was what looked to the pair much like an official seal of office.

Upon entering the building's foyer, the two Powerpuffs found it deserted, just like everywhere else. Brick quickly located a computer terminal at the reception desk, and headed straight for it, Buttercup following behind, intrigued to see if this plan would be successful.

"So...how dya turn it on?" Buttercup asked Brick. The computer gave a single unexpected beep. "I didn't do anything!"

"Don't worry," Brick said, placing his hand on Buttercup's to calm her, "I think it's just booting up. Though why, I don't know."

The screen, which up until now had been black, began to take on a dark reddish hue before accelerating up through the spectrum and finally fading from a deep purple back into black. Accompanying it, a low rumbling sound began to grow in both pitch and intensity until it was loud enough to make them wince. A series of symbols, all totally alien to the two children, then slowly faded into view on the screen in clear text, and began cycling through various shapes and alphabets.

"What on earth is it doing now?" asked Buttercup, confused. Brick shrugged his shoulders.

"I...I think it's trying to communicate with us."

Sure enough, it was. At last, words appeared on the screen that the children recognised. Not exactly sentences, but close enough.

QUERY NATURE.

While Brick searched fruitlessly for a keyboard or some other sort of device, Buttercup asked, "What does it mean?"

"It's asking what we are", Brick said, still looking for a microphone or something similar. Buttercup shouted out, not sure if the computer could hear, but desperate enough to try it anyway.

"We're human. What are you?" The screen was cleared and new words appeared on it.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM; INTEGRATED INTO HABITAT. Brick looked up to see the answer when Buttercup nudged him in the back. After pondering it's meaning, Buttercup was forced to ask, "What's it saying, Bloss?"

"Hmm...I'm not sure, but I think it's saying that it's a single computer that's connected to everywhere in the city, like a sort of living Internet. Computer, where is everyone?"

AMPLIFY QUERY.

"OK, so I didn't make myself clear enough. Where have the inhabitants of this city gone?"

NON-FACTUAL. INHABITANTS STORED FOR SELF-PRESERVATION.

"What the...?" Buttercup just stared blankly at the response, and shuddered.

* * *

RIIIING!

Bubbles, Boomer, Robyn and Blossom were having lunch in the school cafeteria; Butch had opted to eat lunch with Princess in a more secluded part of the school grounds, where they could have a little privacy.

_Well, at least Robyn won't try anything on "Brick" while Bubbles and Boomer are present_, Blossom thought to herself, before glancing to her left to see the pair in question making eyes at each other across the lunch table. When she looked back at Robyn, she saw that the girl had a worried expression on her face again.

"Are ya sure you're OK, Bricky?" Robyn said, reaching across the table to place her hand on Blossom's forehead. Blossom nodded as she swallowed a bite of sandwich.

"Yeah Bobbi", she said, as Brick always called his girlfriend by that instead of her full name. "I'm just not quite...feeling myself today, that's all. No biggie."

Bubbles finally persuaded Boomer to leave the lunchroom with her, and Blossom grew more afraid of Robyn creating a scene in such a public place. Then she relaxed, remembering the strict rules that the faculty imposed upon inter-student fraternisation on school grounds. A girl sat down next to Robyn and began quietly eating her lunch, and at the same time totally absorbed in reading a thick SF novel. She barely paid any heed to her neighbours.

"Sooooo Bricky, wanna help me clean out my locker?" Robyn asked, grinning slyly.

Blossom nearly jumped out of her seat at the contact of a bare foot with her lower leg. _Why do city-destroying supervillains never show up when ya need them to? _she thought, as the foot inched higher. Blossom saw the look of scarcely concealed lust in Robyn's eyes - _Geez, these two have obviously gone waaay further than I would'a imagined. Brick, where are you? _

"Hey Brick dude, lunch finished two minutes ago", Blossom heard a voice saying faintly, as though very far away. Blossom just continued staring at Robyn for some moments more, before Butch appeared in her field of view.

"Yo, snap out of it man", he said, and Blossom felt him give her a wet willy. The discomfort of having his wet finger in her ear brought her crashing back down to reality with a thud.

"Ewww!"

"Finally", Bubbles said, "we're late for Gym class now." Robyn was gone.

"Where's Robyn?" Blossom found herself asking.

"Duh, where else?" asked Boomer. "She left several minutes ago to get changed for Gym. You day-dreaming or summat?"

"Guess I must be", Blossom said, shaking her head to help clear her thoughts. Seeing the others disappearing into the distance, she quickly followed, grabbing her gym kit from her locker en route and launched herself head-first into the girls' changing rooms.

"AAAAAAAAAA!"

Lots of scrambling to hide, lots more screaming, and several shoes being thrown at Blossom later, she backed out of the girls' changing rooms repeatedly mumbling abject apologies, and headed into the boys' instead. _Just look at their faces - whatever you do, don't look down_ she thought.

Blossom needn't have been concerned about seeing anything inappropriate - no normal person likes being exposed in public, and none were completely naked at any time. Changing as fast as possible from her - Brick's - day clothes into his gym kit, Blossom realised that she now quite desperately needed the toilet.

"You coming?" someone asked her, as she looked around for the toilet.

"No thanks," she said, "I just need to...take a leak." Wincing at her own turn of phrase, she headed over to the urinal and undid her fly.

"It's just skin..." she muttered, looking fixedly at the wall in front of her and concentrating intently on the writing scrawled all over it.

**If you think you have problems, you should see the Principal. **

**I have the biggest dick in the world** another one proclaimed, to which someone else had edited the word "have" into "am". A hastily scribbled rendition of a penis with a smiley face on it was next to the end of the sentence.

**For a good time, call Blossom Utonium on 555-5555**

Blossom saw that one and immediately balked at the crudity of the statement. Wishing to be out of this place as soon as possible, she reached into her shorts...

Less than a minute later, Blossom emerged from the changing room into the gym, looking to be in a state of mild shock. After finishing up, she had hastily scrubbed her hands almost raw, to be sure she had removed all germs. Luckily - or not - Sutekh chose that moment in which to show up.

All the other boys and girls in the class threw themselves back against the nearest wall in amazement at his inexplicable arrival; he simply manifested himself in the middle of the gym, hovering about three feet above the ground in exactly the same way bricks don't. Bubbles, Boomer, Blossom and Butch (Princess was in Math class) floated up from the ground to face off against Sutekh, while Robyn watched intently from the sidelines. Everyone else cowered in abject terror.

"Go Bricky! Whoop his ass", Robyn shouted, completely oblivious of just how powerful Sutekh had previously demonstrated himself to be. This fact was made clear seconds later, as a swing from Butch utterly failed to hit Sutekh, who merely floated to the side. Likewise, he dodged further attacks, before growing bored. Robyn stared at the sight of her friends being so easily outclassed, having seen them in action (both in person and on the news) many times in the past.

"You four are quite pathetic", he said, effortlessly blocking a kick from Boomer and simultaneously blasting Blossom into the wall with a wave of energy. As all four converged on his position, he teleported out, re-appearing above the school's football pitch. "I had hoped that you might have...improved, at least a little, since yesterday. Clearly, however, that is not the case." The four flew after him as Sutekh flew quickly off into the distance, vanishing over the horizon in seconds.

"O...O-Okay class", said the teacher, shaken by the brief display, "class is over. Everyone go and change, and then you can have a free until the next lesson." Normally a cause for cheers, the class was equally awe-struck, and filed out slowly.

Some minutes later, Robyn was the last one in the girls' locker room, and was just packing up her gym clothes when she heard a sound coming from somewhere nearby. Everyone else had already gone, mostly out onto the school fields to goof off until the next lesson started.

Shaking slightly, Robyn said "Who's there? I'm armed, ya know." Picking up a stray baseball bat, she stood and waited for any sounds.

CLANG!

Robyn jumped nearly out of her skin at the sound, but upon inspection, it turned out to be a loose air vent panel that had fallen off.

"I wonder what..."

Pulling a bench underneath the vent, Robyn stood on tiptoes to see into the vent. Before her eyes could adjust to the dark though, a locker swung open behind her, and something heavy smashed against the back of her head, causing everything to go black.

* * *

"So let me get this straight, Bloss; this thing's saying that everyone who used to be here scanned themselves into this computer to escape Sutekh?"

"That seems to be about the size of it", Brick said, as he re-read the computer's explanation several more times to be sure. "Sutekh doesn't understand computers, so that's probably why they're safe in there. Computer, do you have any data on Sutekh?"

AFFIRMATIVE.

"What do you know about him?"

BEING: DESIGNATION "SUTEKH" the computer began. Buttercup, and more so Brick, had learnt to understand it's very cold, clinical language, at least to an extent. PHYSICAL PARAMATERS:...

"Skip the physical parameters", Buttercup said, irritated by the thoroughness of the machine. "What else can you tell us about him?"

ORIGIN: UNKNOWN.

"That's helpful", Buttercup said, sarcastically. The computer hadn't finished yet.

FIRST MONITORED: NEGATIVE FIVE POINT TWO SIX NINE YEARS, RELATIVE. BEING SUTEKH POSSESSES GREAT POWER.

"Yeah, tell us something we don't know", said Brick. He and Buttercup smirked.

AMPLIFY QUERY.

"Nevermind", said Brick, "please continue."

BEING SUTEKH POSSESSES GREAT ABILITY: HANDLE WITH EXTREME CAUTION. ABILITIES INCLUDE: FLIGHT; MANIPULATION OF MATTER, ENERGY, SPACE; TELEPATHY; MIND-CONTROL; OTHER.

"Why does he have such powers though?" asked Brick. After several moments, the computer gave a beep before printing its' answer.

AMPLIFY QUERY.

Brick sighed; this was going to be another long day. "Query origin of abilities?" The computer sat silently for several minutes, during which Buttercup thought it had shut down, or maybe even broken down. "No, it's still on", Brick said, "I think it's just thinking." Finally, the computer came to a decision.

POSSIBLE EXPLANATION; QUANTUM METAPHYSICS. BEEP

"What do you mean?" asked Buttercup.

LIFE PERCEIVES COSMOS; COSMOS IS.

"Right...do you understand that?" Buttercup asked Brick, who shook his head. "So what now? You think maybe this computer knows the way home?"

"It's worth a shot, BC", Brick said, forgetting for a moment that he had never heard Blossom call her sister by that shortened version of her name. Buttercup looked at Brick in a cross between mild shock and amusement. "What?"

"I've been telling you to call me BC for years, Bloss; now you start saying it?"

"Well, I had to pay attention sometime, right?" Brick asked, smirking up at Buttercup, and gave a playful punch to her arm. Turning back to the computer, he asked it, "Computer, can you help us find our planet?"

INSUFFICIENT DATA.

"Blast. Computer, do you contain data on other worlds?"

AFFIRMATIVE.

"Good, now we're getting somewhere maybe. Display data by planet." And so began the search through the computer's databanks to find references to Earth. Only a short while later, by a stroke of luck, they happened across a seemingly innocuous entry in the database.

"Planet ref #6882. Atmosphere; 78 Nitrogen, 21 Oxygen, 1 other. Primary inhabitants known as "humans"." Some attached images showed scenes of the Pyramids and Stonehenge, but all showed works in progress rather than the finished structures. Clearly, these shots were from millennia ago, and the people of this planet had visited Earth at that time.

"Computer, can you find this planet?"

AFFIRMATIVE.

"What good does that do, Bloss?" Buttercup asked. Brick shushed her and continued his line of questions.

"How far?"

7,800 YEARS AT LIGHTSPEED. Brick just blinked repeatedly at the words on the screen, while Buttercup began laughing hysterically in the background.

"Were the civilisation that created you capable of space travel?"

AFFIRMATIVE.

"Big deal", Buttercup said, still giggling away behind Brick. She hiccupped. "Any of their spacecraft still working?"

AFFIRMATIVE.

"And now the clincher", Brick said. "How long would the journey take?"

"Forget it Bloss" Buttercup said, having stopped laughing. "We're never getting back." The computer computed silently for several seconds more. The answer that it spat out caused both teens to stare slack-jawed.

AT MAXIMUM CRUISE VELOCITY - 4 MINUTES 6 SECONDS. POWER UP TIME - 10 MINUTES.

It was then that the two of them noticed a rumbling sound growing louder all around them. It sounded as though the entire floating city was gradually shaking itself to pieces, but everything remained entirely intact. Brick clutched Buttercup in a tight embrace.

"W-w-w-w-what's happening?" Brick shouted over the growing roar.

"I think we just asked it to take us home", Buttercup shouted back over the sound of the city's engines powering up. Both looked on, astounded, as outside the skyscraper a massive energy dome fizzled into being over the entire city, stretching right over the tops of even the tallest of the buildings.

"Wha? But that's impossible!" Buttercup said, having to shout to be heard over the roar coming from beneath the hovering city. Brick just shrugged in response and held Buttercup tightly as the engines continued to build power.

* * *

Once again, the Powerpuffs and Rowdyruffs assembled were trying to fight Sutekh; once again, they were unable to even land a single strike on him, as he would either dodge or deflect every attack that headed his way.

"What're we gonna do, Brick?" Boomer asked, as he floated next to his brothers, panting for breath. Blossom tapped her nose and winked, then flew towards Sutekh at full speed, expecting him to dodge her as he had all the other times. He sidestepped in the air in the blink of an eye, but Blossom brought herself to a controlled stop and turned to face him. Sutekh looked at her with a mildly quizzical expression, and arched his eyebrow.

"Brute strength doesn't seem to count for anything, does it, Sutekh?" Blossom asked him, and he nodded.

"You understand, at least in part. No matter, you will never be powerful enough to become a threat, Brick; you or your friends."

"You think so?" Blossom asked, and blew ice breath at Sutekh. The man was caught completely unawares, and was rapidly encased in a one-foot deep block of ice. Blossom turned to see Boomer and Butch staring at her, while Bubbles' eyes began to water.

"B...B-b-b-b-b-blos-s-s-s-som?" Bubbles asked.

"Yes, it's me Bubbles."

"Why...why didn't you say something earlier?" asked Boomer, quicker to recover his grip on the situation than Butch.

"I didn't know what to say", Blossom said, honestly. "If I'd told ya I was Blossom in Brick's body, would you've believed me?" Everyone agreed on that point, and Bubbles flew into Blossom's arms to give her a big hug.

"I...I missed you so much, Blossom!"

"I know Bubbles, I know", Blossom said, patting her sister on the back.

"Hang on", said Butch, "if you're here, where's Brick?"

"Think about it, man", said Boomer, "he must be in Blossom's...body, which means he's on the other side of the galaxy. Oh no!"

"Don't worry Boomie, we'll get Brick and Buttercup back somehow", said Bubbles, "won't we Blossom?"

"Sure we will."

"I hate to break up this tearful reunion", said Sutekh. "Well, actually I don't. Could we get back to this 'fight' now please?" And he launched at the sisters so fast that they didn't even see a motion blur, and an instant later Bubbles was unconscious on the ground, a large bruise forming across her entire right temple.

"Bubbles!"

"Don't worry Boomer, we'll get him yet", Butch said, and fired several quick eyebeam volleys, all of which struck Sutekh head-on and failed to do any damage. "Or not..." he added, a moment before he was shoved roughly through a nearby brick wall. Boomer and Blossom waited for Butch to come flying back through on the offensive, and were shocked when he finally reappeared with a cut lip, his left eye already swelling, and a slight limp, before collapsing to the ground, groaning.

Blossom and Boomer looked over to see Sutekh grinning at them, showing his perfect white and evenly spaced teeth, and gulped.

"Ready for round two to begin?" Sutekh asked, and hovered in front of them again.

Blossom suddenly realised something, and her eyes went wide with the implications of it. Turning to Boomer, she asked, "Why is he bothering?"

"What, Brick...Blossom?"

"Why bother? We're no threat, he said so himself? So why fight us?"

"I dunno", Boomer said, and then thought hard. "He's distracting us."

"Good, but what from?" The answer came to both of them at the same instant.

"Robyn!"

* * *

"Ack! Why are you doing this to me?" Robyn asked her captors. They had moved into a darkened room adjoining the girls' locker room, so she couldn't see the faces of her attackers. From their voices, she had been able only to ascertain that one was a man and the other a woman; at a guess, middle-aged.

"It is the master's will", the woman told her.

"Honey, don't tell her anything; we're meant to be killing her!" the man said, and Robyn felt a firm masculine arm grip her own arm tightly, making her wince.

"What? Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter to you. Nothing will matter soon, anymore. The master is going to take over the world and create paradise for his followers."

_Oh great, religious fanatics; it was only a matter of time in Townsville, _thought Robyn. "Who is this master? Maybe I want to be one of his followers", she said, trying to stall for time. Alas, the couple had other plans.

"Sorry kiddo", the man said, "the master gave strict instructions that you be killed." She heard a gun being cocked somewhere nearby, and started to sweat in fear despite the cold of the darkened room. Robyn swallowed thickly - _I love you, my Bricky_, she thought.

BANG!

* * *

LAUNCH IN 3...

2...

1...

LAUNCH!

Brick and Buttercup, to whom Brick was still clinging fiercely, felt an unexpected and quite uncomfortable sensation of tumbling head over heels, without actually moving. The craft - the city, moved so fast that this had the odd effect of making them feel as though the backs of their bodies had actually passed _through_ their fronts for a few moments, before they reached maximum velocity and the immense acceleration vanished. Everything was perfectly calm, like it is just after the end of a really heavy storm. Brick held Buttercup's hand and led her outside into the city's streets, to look up into the sky.

Between the tops of the various skyscrapers, they could see the stars; at the great speed with which they were now moving, the light from all the stars was so blurred that their were streaks of light covering the sky, making it look as though space itself were glowing. Buttercup looked up in awe.

"It's... beautiful", she said in a hushed whisper. Brick looked at her, staring up at space, and whispered even more quietly, "Yes, it is."

_Where did **that** come from? _

* * *

"Give it up, whoever you are! You're not hurting our friend", Blossom stated, as she dropped the squashed bullet to the ground, and pulled Robyn gently away from her captors. Robyn immediately jumped into Blossom's arms, and gave her a big, passionate thank-you kiss.

"Oh Bricky! I knew you'd save me!" she said, almost squealing in her happiness. Boomer flipped the light-switch, and they took their first look at who was behind this. Blossom was the only one who recognised the man and woman.

"Mister and Mrs. Smith? What did you think you were doing?"

"You know these people, Bricky?" Robyn asked, holding Blossom tightly. Blossom thought about what she had just said - Brick didn't know these criminals, she had to cover herself somehow. She couldn't think of anything though; luckily, she didn't have to.

"You failed me, Smiths", Sutekh's emotionless voice said, seemingly projecting from all around the group. "If the Powerpuffs and Rowdyruffs don't kill you, I should." Mr and Mrs Smith went white with terror at those words. "But I won't; this time. You have another chance to kill the girl."

"Like hell you do!" Blossom said, and moved to place herself between Robyn and the crooks. Instead of even trying to fight the girls, which had never succeeded when the Powerpuffs were young and certainly wouldn't work now, Mr and Mrs Smith ran for the nearest exit, heading out towards the game field, hoping for their master's protection.

"Wusses", Boomer observed. He flew after the fleeing felons, as did Blossom, after lifting Robyn up into her arms.

Everyone was soon once more gathered on the games field - Boomer and Blossom, carrying Robyn; Sutekh, with the Smiths standing trembling behind him; and Butch and Bubbles unconscious, lying nearby, Butch amongst a pile of rubble that used to be a wall of a nearby classroom.

"This is getting pathetic - and highly repetitive", Sutekh stated matter-of-factly. "What do you intend to do, with two of your comrades missing and two more unconscious?" Blossom placed Robyn gently on the ground, and then glared at Sutekh, a new fire burning deep within her red eyes.

"This", she simply said, and floated towards Sutekh slowly, the murderous look on her face never wavering. Through gritted teeth, she continued, "You can hurt us all you like, but never...touch...my...girlfriend!"

At this point, Mr Smith remembered something he'd obtained in advance of this plan, and whipped out a small vile of murky green liquid marked "X". Pulling the stopper out of it, he lobbed it up at Blossom. The girl never even saw it coming, let alone had enough time to dodge, and it's contents splashed right across her face, choking her in the slimy fluid as it filled her mouth and nose with its' putridness. At once, the Powerpuff Girls leader fell to the ground, writhing in agony for several long moments before lying, gasping painfully for breath.

"Lame", Sutekh said, and began to float away.

"N-n-n-n-n-n-not...laaaaaaaaaame...", Blossom croaked out from where she still lay, and all eyes that weren't already staring at her prone form were quickly fixed on her.

A tiny smirk appeared on Sutekh's face, the first display of actual emotion he had experienced in his dealings with the 'ruffs and 'puffs. "What did you say?"

"I...said...not l...lame..."

Staggering to her feet and swaying on weakened legs, she stood and defiantly stared at Sutekh, who floated to the ground to stare at her, eye to eye. Half-heartedly, he swung his fist at her, expecting her to go back down without a fight, as did everyone else present and conscious.

He, and everyone else present and conscious, was wrong - Blossom bent back at the waist and nimbly avoided the blow. Gasps of surprise were heard all around, and Sutekh struck out again. Once more, Blossom dodged, faster this time, as this punch actually had power behind it.

"What the...?" Sutekh asked, mildly confused. "That was Antidote X - you don't have any powers left. How...?"

"I figured it out, Sutekh", Blossom said, dodging several more punches that were thrown in quick succession. "The root of your powers isn't Chemical X like ours, it's something else entirely. I know what it is." Sutekh raised his leg sharply between Blossom's legs, but she was too quick for him; moving so fast that the others saw only a blur, she did a back flip followed by a spin kick. Sutekh dodged the kick, but was forced to deflect several more punches and kicks that followed rapidly behind it as Blossom continued her new assault.

"Very good of you, I applaud you", Sutekh said, with something approaching condescension entering his voice. Another uppercut from the red puff was blocked, followed by a spin kick that Sutekh stopped by grabbing Blossom's ankle and holding on tight. This didn't deter Blossom in the slightest, as she used his grip to support her against, and brought her other leg up to kick him in the face. Sutekh dodged by flinging his upper body to one side, and at the same time throw Blossom in the opposite direction.

Blossom stopped her backward motion in mid-air and flew at Sutekh to begin a new barrage. Punches, kicks, and eyebeams flew so fast from her now that she was becoming a constant blur, a patch of red mist spread several feet above the ground, surrounding another patch of blackish mist that represented Sutekh fighting back, just as hard and just as fast. Whenever she paused momentarily to switch tactics, Sutekh would take the offence, and similarly Blossom would go on the attack when Sutekh shifted his stance. Every attack that each tried was either, deflected or dodged, and yet neither party was becoming exhausted in the slightest. The pace of the battle kept increasing, and finally the spectators were unable to see anything happening at all; the attacks were flying so thick and fast that both Blossom and Sutekh were now invisible to the naked human, or Xian, eye.

"How dya think he's doing, Boomer?" Robyn asked, worried about her "boyfriend".

"Well, he seems to be holding his own...I can't really tell", Boomer said, more than a little anxious about this himself.

At long last, several minutes later, something happened that all present could actually see - Sutekh went flying backwards and smashed through a line of oak trees roughly half a mile long, lining the perimeter of the school grounds, before coming to a halt in a massive cloud of debris and a blazing trail of destruction etched into the ground he had passed along.

"Now...I'm annoyed", Sutekh said, giving a low growl. Floating up from the crater that he had gouged, he stretched his arms out to the sides before swinging them forwards and hurling a massive wave of brilliant blue energy directly at "Brick". Blossom didn't move, didn't even flinch as the wave front crashed into her, swirling all around and blasting the science labs behind her into a heap of incandescent wreckage. Flying closer to the site of destruction, Sutekh waited for the dust cloud to settle so that he could confirm that he was triumphant.

"Is that the best you got, Sutekh?"

"No it isn't, not by a long shot. I will admit that I am mildly impressed by your progress, though. Until next time", he said, taking a small bow and then blinking out of existence, along with the Smith couple.

"O...kay", said Boomer, "I was expecting him to put up more of a fight than that." Robyn agreed.

"I'm just happy that you're alright, Bricky", she said, running over to Blossom and embracing her tightly. Boomer went to check on Bubbles and Butch, who were both coming around, and gingerly examined their wounds.

"I promise I'll never leave you, Robyn", Blossom whispered. Robyn pulled back a little to gaze deeply into her "boyfriend's" eye.

"Good, 'cos there's no way I'm letting you go either", she replied, smiling, and blushed slightly at realising that their friends were viewing this scene.

Blossom understood Robyn's sudden shyness, and whispered as coyly as she could, "Who cares if they're watching?" before leaning forward to give Robyn a kiss on the lips, thinking _this is what Brick would do now. Just a few seconds. _

Both girls gasped at the first contact of their lips, and the look of love in Robyn's eyes actually made Blossom go weak at the knees momentarily. As they kissed, they pressed closer to each other, and Blossom gasped again, followed by the faintest of moans as Robyn brought her tongue into play, licking "Brick's" lips ever so teasingly, and when Blossom didn't pull back, she deepened the kiss further, placing her arms around Blossom's neck as Blossom steadied herself in turn by placing her hands on Robyn's waist, rubbing small, soothing circles on Robyn's sides, causing Robyn in turn to moan into the kiss.

While Blossom, as Brick, and Robyn were distracted by their moments of deep affection, a rumbling began in the ground, and everything began to vibrate so intensely that it felt as if a volcano was about to erupt under the teen's very feet. The sky darkened suddenly, and Boomer, Butch and Bubbles looked up to see that they were in the shadow of a truly vast object, of which all they could see was smooth under-surface at the moment. They all three gasped in awe at the sheer magnitude of this object which had inexplicably appeared above them.

Finally drawing back from their kiss - and oblivious to the darkness that had descended over the entire city, Robyn and Blossom continued to stare only at each other; everything else was irrelevant. Both girls continued to hold onto each other as they stumble, their senses still reeling.

"Wow", said Blossom, in a breathy voice, "that was...intense."

Robyn nodded. "Yeah", she said, stuttering, and licked her lips, "we've never kissed like **that** before." She fanned herself as a flush crept into her cheeks. "I felt the earth move."

"No", Butch said, interjecting and bring the moment to an end, "that would be the giant spaceship that just appeared in low orbit above us." Blossom and Robyn looked up to find that this was indeed the case, and adopted a similar expression to the one that Boomer and Bubbles still sported on their own faces. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to two small green dots coming in their direction; one pink, the other green.

"I think..." Bubbles started, but the rest of that sentence was unnecessary as the two dots rapidly grew to become the forms of "Blossom" and Buttercup. "They're back! Yippee! They're back, Boom-Boom!" she squealed, bouncing up and down while hugging Boomer tightly. Brick and Buttercup soon arrived and landed, and looked at the scene of destruction on the school grounds, before noticing the bruised and battered state of the their siblings. Finally, Brick noticed the Blossom and Robyn, and how they were standing so close together, holding hands.

"Hey, Blossom!" Brick shouted. "Get my hands of my girlfriend, now!" Buttercup and Robyn did a double take at how ridiculous that sounded and what it could mean, while Boomer, Bubbles and Butch just moved back out of the way, not wanting to get in the way of the nearly inevitable argument that was brewing.

"Bricky, what's going on?" Robyn asked Blossom, chewing her lower lip nervously. Then, thinking back over the events of the day...

"Oh god - Blossom?" Robyn said, half-hoping she was right and half-hoping she was wrong. Which half was stronger was anyone's guess however.

Blossom simply nodded in response.

Robyn brought her hand to her mouth and touched her lips softly, thinking again on that kiss. _We've never kissed like **that** before..._ She turned to face Brick in Blossom's body, her mouth quivering and her eyes filling with tears. Looking back and forth between the two, the emotions very soon became much too much for her to handle, and, not knowing how to react to the mess she found herself now in, she ran for home, followed swiftly by Bubbles.

Buttercup just continued to stare.

* * *

"Robyn, wait!"

"No...Bubbles, I...want...to be...alone!"

"You can't run forever, you know. And I can fly faster anyhow."

"Okay", said Robyn, and stopped running. Panting for breath, she sat down on a convenient bench. "I just..."

"I understand Robyn - well, as much as I possibly can, at least", Bubbles said, sitting next to Robyn and letting Robyn cry into the shoulder of her sweater. "You weren't to know."

"But...b-b-b-b-b-but I should've, don't you see?" said Robyn, becoming a little agitated again. "I should of known - Brick...he never kissed me liked that."

"How do you mean?", Bubbles asked, curious what Robyn would say. Robyn sat up and looked at her best friend.

"He loves me, but - when we kissed - it was only ever 'cos he wanted to go further; never just 'cos he wanted to kiss me."

Bubbles thought deeply for a moment. "But all boys are that way, aren't they?"

"Maybe, maybe not; doesn't make it right though, does it?" Robyn asked, and Bubbles couldn't deny that. "And that's what was different - when Blossom kissed me just then, I could feel love, nothing else. And now...now, I'm so confused..." she said, tearing up again.

"Shhhhhhhh", Bubbles said, and stroked Robyn's hair as she hummed a tune softly to help soothe her.

_It's a good thing Him's already dead, or I'd give him Hell to pay_Bubbles thought.

* * *

"I was just pretending to be you", Blossom offered in her defence.

Brick scoffed at that remark. "Yeah, it really looked that way too. I could see the way you looked at her when realised what had happened."

Sutekh's voice floated ominously over the crowd, saying the word "undo", and Blossom and Brick both blinked and found them selves back in their own bodies once more, but still standing where they had been. To the others, Blossom seemed to answer her own remark, before they realised the mess had been, at least physically, unravelled.

"I've heard Robyn talking about having nightmares that you're eyeing other girls behind her back." Brick baulked at that. "Spending the night with Buttercup, pretending to be me...don't try to tell me you weren't ogling her."

"That...that, that, that...that's just not..."

"Oh. My. God." Buttercup said and flew over to give Brick a huge slap. "You WERE staring at me when we were bathing! I thought I just imagined that!"

"This is better than Oprah", Butch observed. "Anyone wanna make a popcorn run?" Boomer rolled his eyes in despair, and tackled Butch to the ground. This was the scene to which Robyn and Bubbles returned.

"Umm...guys?" Everyone turned to face her expectantly; even Butch and Boomer stopped their tussle on the tarmac. "I've come to a decision."

"Yes?" Brick asked, hopefully. Robyn walked over to him and gave him a small peck on the lips, and Blossom looked...inscrutable. "I'm sorry Brick", Robyn said in a hushed tone, and strode over to Blossom, wrapping her arms around the other girl and giving her a brilliant smile. "I'm yours, if you'll have me Blossom."

"Of course I will", Blossom said, and gave a big smile in return. Slipping free of Robyn's grip, the Powerpuff Leader took off into the sky, with a great shout of "Woohoo!", and drew a massive stylised heart with an arrow through it in the air using her pink jet stream. Everybody laughed politely at this rather overt display of affection.

As they all began to walk home, and relayed their separate adventures of the last day to each other, Brick turned to Buttercup and asked her, "I'm not going to the dance with anyone now, would ya like to..."

Buttercup cut him off by placing her palm fully over his mouth, and said. "You're a twisted perv with no redeeming qualities." Then she removed her hand.

"So is that a yes?" he asked hopefully, earning him a punch on the shoulder.

"It's not a solid 'no', but that's all I'll commit myself to - for now", she said smirking and walking on to chat with Robyn, Blossom and Bubbles.

Things had changed; they would probably continue to change, especially as Sutekh was still at large. But, for right now, they had the closest thing they could to a single, perfect, moment. There aren't many of them in a person's life.

And if Sutekh got his way, there wouldn't be any again, ever.

* * *

"Master, we have more followers for you", said Mr Smith, bowing low in front of Sutekh's throne.

"Bring them in then", Sutekh ordered. He was slightly annoyed that the day's plan had gone so badly, but also satisfied that he now had an opponent worthy of his abilities in Blossom. Mr and Mrs. Smith ushered in the couple - younger than themselves, wearing matching suits.

"Great and powerful Lord Sutekh, may I introduce..." Sutekh waved him into silence.

"It doesn't matter, 1", he said, having decided to designate Mr Smith as 1 and Mrs Smith as 2. "They will be 3" he said, indicating the man in his mid-thirties, "and 4", he indicated the woman briefly. Then he turned aside, to consider his next plan.

"Nice to have you on our side, Mr and Mrs Snyder", Mrs Smith whispered to the new recruits. "You said something about a daughter - will we get to meet her?"

"No, regrettably", Mr Snyder said, with a look of cold calculation on his face, "she suffered an unfortunate fatal accident."

"Oh, when?" asked Mr Smith, overhearing.

"Sssssoon..." Mr Snyder hissed.

* * *

To be continued...

Holy crap, that was longer than intended, wasn't it:) Kinda got away from me in writing, but I feel that it all needed to be in the one chapter, I hope you agree. I also seriously hope that I threw you a few curve balls in terms of the plot, but I don't know how good I am at plot twists.

You'd never guess that I feel uncomfortable writing romantic scenes, would you:) I'm drawing entirely from fantasy (including what I've seen on TV), so if it didn't seem completely believable, that's why. Just thought I'd warn you.

Author responses and thanks:

**Ivygreen: **I just noticed that I didn't actually have Princess appear in this chapter - then again, she's not a central character, so that shouldn't matter too much.  
You get to see more of Brick and Blossom in each other's bodies, though I decided not to dwell too heavily on that subject (though if I had, it'd have been quite funny, yet also gross...), though I did deal with some relation problems it caused. Umm, yep, it's true indeed (and hence also really deep). Hope you like. :)  
**Dooly: **Yeah, I dunno where that body switch idea came from (I think it was the film "Freaky Friday" actually).  
Yeah, Sutekh is bloody powerful, but all is not lost. Training, yes, but not in the usual way (more mental than physical, I'd imagine).  
**Kezzer: **I understand where you're coming from - this is a mammoth story to read when you're starting after 12 chapters have already been posted. :D  
I always try to think "How would so-and-so react in this situation?" rather than just have the character doing what would help the plot best; makes them seem more real to me, that way, rather than just literary puppets (god, I sound pretentious don't I:P), helps keep the characters separate in my mind, etc. Does have a tendency to cause chapters to overrun though, as the plot is being driven by the characters rather than the other way around...  
If you're gonna make a bad guy, make him almost ridiculously powerful - that's my motto in fanfiction. :D  



	14. Interlude: The Final Battle approaches

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

**The Chemical X ChroniclesBy Gregory S. W. CooperInterlude - The Final Battle approaches**

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* * *

In the beginning, there was The One. And The One came before everything; before man; before the animals, and the plants; before the planets, and the stars; lo, even before all the universes, and Time itself. Everything that came, came from The One, and The One saw all of Destiny laid out, and it was good.

The One begat the one who would be known only as God, crafted in its' own image, and God created all the universes, and populated them with lesser beings, who would grow to love and worship God and The One as a single entity.

In time, God became bored with the pettiness of live in all the universes, and sealed Himself away; and the lesser beings, seeing no signs from on high of their God, slowly lost their faith in His existence.

In this age, other - lesser - beings developed certain abilities and exploited these newly discovered talents and oft-times their fellow lesser beings, too, to their own gain. Their intentions guided their continued evolution, so that those with good in their hearts became as angels, and did good, the whole world over. While those with evil in their hearts changed equally into demons, and spread destruction, evil, and chaos the whole world over. Over all of this, the balance between Good, and Evil, was maintained across all the universes.

Then, finally, in some of the universes, a new breed of lesser being developed; and this breed of lesser being called itself; and it was called Man. And, though Man was young and unskilled, he learned quickly how to survive in this age of demons and angels. And, as Man toiled away down the countless millennia; growing; learning; building; a great war waged between angels and demons, and all of both were wiped from the face of what Man called Earth. And so Man inherited Earth, and used it to his own ends.

Eventually, Man grouped together with fellow Man, and the first tribes were born. These tribes had common purposes, though not all were common with fellow tribes. Herein lies the birth of the True Evil - Man's own inhumanity to fellow Man.

* * *

Just outside the village that would, one day, become Cairo, built on the edge of the river that would be known as the Nile, a young boy was tending to his parent's small farmland, as they were in the village exchanging their excess crops for other necessities. The boy had discovered, just that day, that by staring at his hoe and thinking as hard as he could, he could make the tool tend to the land without his holding it.

His parents never arrived home that afternoon.

On the way, they were attacked by a band of barbarians, and were left dead by the side of the track as the savages took what food and tools they had with them, and their cart, and vanished back into the dunes. The boy, knowing nothing of the fate of his parents, continued tending to the land for another month, until the barbarians, having once more run out of food, raided the farmlands. They bound the boy as they pillaged the lands, and taunted him about how they had killed his defenceless parents.

In anger, the boy had struck out, not with his bounds arms and legs, but with his mind, and the cruel man at once had fallen on a nearby pick, impaling his head on it. The others, frightful at their leader meeting such a brutal end, left, after freeing the boy from his bindings and offering abject apologies and bleats of terror alternately.

After that, the boy did not tend to his late lamented parents' lands; he trained his mind to make crops grow whenever he wished it, even in the most adverse of conditions. He affected the biology of the creatures native to that area, creating an animal like a horse that could go for weeks without either food or water. Finally, he attempted to bring his parents back from the dead, but nothing happened.

He tried again, and again nothing happened. Trying once more, he finally re-animated them, but the revived corpses of his mother and father turned and attacked him, knocking him unconscious.

Several hours later, the boy awoke, and followed their staggering tracks into Cairo village, to find the decomposing bodies attacking and destroying anything and anyone that got in their way. The villagers faced them bravely, but were unable to kill that which was already dead. In anger, he made the corpses to once again lie down, and they did. Then, as his anger increased, a great flame rose from the grounds around him, and the village was all but razed to the ground.

After that day, the boy was never seen again. In his place was a man, dressed all in black, hiding in the shadows, destroying buildings, farms, animals, people, all alike. In its' place, he created a land of slavery, of tyranny, or utter terror, where nothing was done that he did not wish to be. And so this continued, with chaos and destruction occasionally being rained down on his subjects whenever the whim took him.

Years later, three little girls were born to a poor family living in the centre of Cairo. The boy who became the man, now known as Sutekh the Destroyer, had outlawed multiple births as they may be a sign from on high. Their parents, fearing the girls would be executed, sent them far away, as far as they could go. The three girls were taken north and into the region of Europe, to where is now modern-day Greece, where they were brought up by a Greek family and learnt of the Greek prophecies concerning the End of Days.

The girls grew, both in body and mind, knowing that it was their duty to face Sutekh and to try to destroy him, as the prophecy had foretold. So it went,

__

"Three will be not of human born;  
and they will gather an army and face the Destroyer of worlds;  
and in that final battle, many will die;  
and the world will be plunged into eternal darkness."

The girls all, were popular and powerful; they commanded great respect in ancient Athens, and were known together as the Three Princesses. They indeed did gather an army of soldiers, some tens of millions strong from across Europe, growing as they approached Cairo, and war was joined against Sutekh the Destroyer.

The battle was bloody as it was short, and in less than a day all the tens of millions of the three princesses' armies lay scattered on the ground, dead. All was not in vain however, as Sutekh was mystically imprisoned in a giant shard of rock by a wise, old, Greek mage, and cast into the sky to travel the worlds for all time. Cairo, and the rest of the world, was free from Sutekh's grasp, and Man prospered for five millennia.

In this time, technology developed apace - from spears and daggers, to swords, to arrows, guns, missiles, and lasers, Man's weapons of war grew ever more frightful, but still were nothing compared to the powers of Sutekh. Sutekh's powers had also grown over the intervening years as he tried time and again to tear free from his magical bonds, with little success. Until the rock came back towards Earth once more...

In this age, a man by the name of Utonium had created three girls out of sugar, spice, and all things nice, and they were known as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup - the Powerpuff Girls. They dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil in all its' forms, but they did not know what yet lay ahead of them. Their archenemy created rivals to their powers, and they fought all day and all night before those horrid boys were defeated. Undaunted, years later, he created more rivals, this time in the form of the girls themselves, and sent them to destroy their older selves, thereby sealing the circle of Fate and securing the girls' very creation.

Sutekh in time returned to Earth, and battle was once more joined between Good and Evil - and the girls gained new allies in the form of the very boys who had before sought to kill them. Friends joined them as the threat grew, and a new army slowly took form, as storm clouds gathered over the planet once more. A new war erupted and, as the prophecy predicted, this one would bring an end, to one side or the other. For, with Sutekh developing his powers of altering reality through his own thoughts, he had unbalanced more than just the scales of Good and Evil in our universe, but in all of them; and the barriers between the realities began to break down. Fate balanced the scales by creating an equal force for Good - the girls, the Three Princesses, now The Powerpuff Girls - and gave them equal, and opposite - powers. But the universes' state was so unstable, this was not enough.

One side would destroy the other; that much was clear. Not even Fate knew which side would emerge victorious, with the universes so far out of balance. All that is known for certain is that -

- the Final Battle now approaches...

* * *

OK, so that was some serious hyperbole for the next chapter, whenever it appears; this just came pouring out of me, and I thought "why not?" and got it typed as quick as I could to make sure I didn't forget it. :) I hope the next actual chapter comes as easily to me, preferably tomorrow night - don't hold your breath, though. :P


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